


Chances are

by fondlelarry



Series: The Beauty and the Beast [4]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: (and there may or may not be some ziam), AU, Also Liam is an adoptive father, Anal Sex, Human!Harry, Human!Liam, Human!Niall, Hybrid!Zayn, Hybrids, M/M, a bit of fluff tbh, hybrid!louis, in a bathtub, it's set in and around december, louis wanks, obviously, other sexual thingy's that aren't described in detail, so it's a bit christmassy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-12
Updated: 2014-05-12
Packaged: 2018-01-24 13:03:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 31,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1606187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fondlelarry/pseuds/fondlelarry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where most hybrids and humans wants nothing to do with each other, Harry is mesmerized with hybrids, and Louis would do just about anything to be human. human!Harry/hybrid!Louis</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chances are

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so sorry this took so long - again - BUT at least not as long as last time! woop  
> The beginning might be a bit slow? Idk, I feel weird about it:/ Hopefully you guys don't agree
> 
> Also, I've beta'd it myself, so sorry for any mistakessss
> 
> Title is taken from Chances by Five for Fighting!

It’s the sound of glass shattering that essentially wakes him up.  
  
He realizes, now, that the sounds downstairs has subconsciously been filling his dreams for a while though; it explains why that blue bird cried like a baby, and the water in the small lake was boiling.  
  
He hears Liam curse, though it’s kinda muffled by the drumming going on inside his own head, and he buries his nose down in Harry’s chest, trying to force his way back to sleep.  
  
It doesn’t work, off course it doesn’t, so he just listens to the noises in the house instead; Liam walking around, the broken pieces of glass brushing against one another as he presumably swipes them up, the vacuum cleaner next.  
  
Once Liam’s done cleaning up, Louis tries to focus his hearing on Zayn, hoping he’s awake and can come upstairs with painkillers at  Louis’ whispered request, but instead he hears a soft snoring coming from somewhere else upstairs.  
  
  
He sighs, the headache definitely winning out on his need to cuddle Harry, and he curses Liam for being a stupid human with stupid, weak human hearing.  
   
Also, damn Millie for not being old enough to communicate with Liam for him.  
  
  
  
Eventually, he has no choice but to sneak out of the bed, trying his best not to jolt Harry.  
  
  
He’s still in last nights clothes, t-shirt ruffled and jeans uncomfortably twisted, but it’s not like he has a change of clothes.  
  
He still feels a bit drunk as well, dizzy the second he stands up, and he tries his best to ignore it as he stumbles out the bedroom door.  
  
  
  
He knows he’s being noisy as he practically stomps down the stairs.  
  
The light in the hall is way too bright and blinding compared to the delighted dark of the bedroom and it’s only urging the headache on, so he really has no patience in him to be quiet.  
  
Besides, both Harry and Zayn are heavy sleepers, and he can hear Millie gnawing on something in the living room, so he’s not too worried.  
  
  
“You’re up early.” Liam says as he enters the living room.  
  
Liam looks worse than Louis feels, dark circles under his eyes and body absolutely slumped on the couch.  
  
“What time is it?” Louis asks through a yawn, his voice rough and scratching uncomfortably in his throat.  
  
“Seven thirty.”  
  
He definitely didn’t get to bed till after four am, he really shouldn’t be functioning right now.  
  
“When did she get up?” He asks then, nodding towards Millie.  
  
“Six.” Liam replies, making Louis wince in sympathy.  “Do you want some pain killers?”  
  
“Yeah, that’d be great. I can find them myself though, if you tell me where they are?”  
  
“The cupboard to the left above the sink. There’s bread on the counter as well, if you want, and spreads and drinks in the fridge.”  
  
  
Louis thanks him as he turns towards the kitchen.  
The painkillers are easy to find, and he grabs a couple of ibuprofens and places them on the counter while looking for a glass and a plate.  
  
Once he’s filled his glass with milk and made himself a couple of toasts with butter and jam, he grabs the pills and heads out to the living room again.    
  
  
  
“I’m sorry bout yesterday.” Louis says as he sits down in the armchair, plate on his lap.  
  
“It’s fine.” Liam replies with a shrug and a small smile.  
  
“It’s really not.”  
  
  
Liam shrugs again, eyes falling back at Millie.  
  
“At least _she_ didn’t wake up.”  
  
  
They keep quiet for a few minutes, while Louis eats and Liam watches a show on the telly on mute.  
  
  
“Did you sleep alright?” Louis finally asks, the silence making his skin crawl.  
Liam gives him a look, like _what do you think?_ , but he clears his throat and nods.  
  
“I can, like, if you want, I can watch Millie while you take a nap?” He offers, even though he’s dead tired himself, and his head is still pounding.  
  
Liam looks at him, baffled.  
  
“Zayns sleeping in my bed. Don’t really feel like joining him.” He says, rubbing at his shoulder.  
  
Right.  
  
  
“How, um. Did it go okay last night?”  
  
“Well you saw most of it.” Liam points out with a huff of a laugh. “Or, do you remember?”  
  
Louis nods, the image of Zayn dry humping Liam probably etched into his brain for eternity.    
  
“Yeah, so I just told him to go to sleep, basically. He tried to make me stay, and then, um, I kissed him goodnight and he fell asleep within seconds.”  
  
Louis snorts at that, because, yeah, that sounds exactly like something Zayn would do.  
  
“You could’ve just made him sleep on the couch though, he falls asleep everywhere.”  
  
“Then I would’ve just woken him up when I came downstairs with Millie this morning.” He takes a deep breath, looking down at his hands.  “Do you think he’ll remember?”    
Liam bites at his lip as soon as the question is out, immediately giving all his attention to Millie, as if he wants to pretend he never asked in the first place.  
  
“I don’t know.” Louis replies honestly. “He tend to black out sometimes, when he’s really drunk. But he could just as easily _pretend_ to have a convenient memory loss. I don’t know if you’ve realized,” He adds, voice dripping with sarcasm. “but Zayn’s kinda bad at confrontations.”  
  
“That thought has crossed my mind, yeah.” Liam says with a laugh.  
  
  
“Do you _want_ him to remember?” Liam sighs, rubbing a hand over his face.  
  
“Yes _and_ no? If he wants to talk about, or, I don’t know, us. Or whatever. Then yeah, I do. But if we’re just gonna pretend it never happened, then it’s easier if he don’t, isn’t it?”  
  
“Yeah, I s’pose. Like- he does like you though, like what he said last night, both to you and to me before we got here as well, it wasn’t just him being drunk or whatever.”  
  
“Yeah, well.” Louis finishes the last piece of his toast, giving Liam a chance to continue, but he just shrugs.  
  
“I think, like, it explains the way he’s been acting as well, the things he’s said. I think he’s been really confused about all of this.”  
  
“Doesn’t excuse his behavior though.” Liam says rather coldly, before he sighs. “ Like I get that he’s a teenager, we both are, and he acts out or whatever.  
But, like, I have a baby - I have a daughter, and right now she’s my absolutely highest priority. I don’t know if I wanna bring all this drama and, just, you know, _him_ , into her life.  
  
If he’s ready to sit down and talk like proper adults, and wiling to try and figure things out like that, then sure, I’ll give it a go, but if not… -And maybe that’s a lot to ask of him, especially at our age and at this point in our ..relationship, or whatever, but Millie comes first. I’m not gonna do anything that could end up hurting her.”  
  
“I get that. But, like, don’t throw away your own happiness though.”  
  
“Yeah, I know.” Liam says, a small smile flittering over his face before it disappears again.  
  
  
Louis sighs, considering.  
  
His headache seems to have backed down a bit, thank god for painkillers, and even though he’s still tired, he’s not exhausted.  
  
“You can, um, sleep in Harry’s bed? While I watch her?”  
  
Liam isn’t facing him, but he can see the outline of his jaw drop.  
He turns to him, fish mouthing for a second before clearing his throat.  
  
“You’d -you’d be okay with that?”  
  
“Yeah, I mean, you’re just sleeping, right?” He shrugs, pretending to be a bit more nonchalant than he actually is, “Just don’t grope him and we’ll be fine.” He says it with a smile, and it takes a second before Liam joins in, though he still seems a tad unsure.  
  
“Wouldn’t try even if I wanted to.” He says, which makes Louis’ smile a bit more genuine, and as a result, Liam’s as well. “I -yeah. Yeah, okay. If you’re sure?” Louis nods, and Liam bites the inside of his lip for a second before he nods along.  
  
“Um, okay. Millie will probably be hungry in like, half an hour? You’ll be able to tell, she’ll get fussy.  
Um, so there’s formula milk on the counter, and just follow the instructions, she’ll eat like, 80 milliliters. Burp her after she’s eaten, and then you can just put her down on the play mat over there.” He points to it, a green mat with some plastic arches crossed over, different toys and teddies hanging down from it. “There’s a timer on the side of the arch, set it to ten minutes, it just plays some music, and she’ll fall asleep.”  
  
“Alright.” Louis agrees. He used to watch his sisters when they were babies, and even though that’s a few years ago now, he’s pretty sure this’ll go smoothly. Like riding a bike.. or something.  
  
“I’ll probably come back down before she wakes up.” He adds, nodding at himself. “Just, yeah, she sleeps till she wakes up.”  
  
  
Liam repeats basically everything he’s already said once, and when he seems to start over for a third time, Louis practically shoves him up the stairs.  
  
“We’ll be fine!” He assures, and then, for good measure, “And if anything happens I’ll come get you right away.”  
  
  
When Liam has finally, reluctantly, gone upstairs, Louis starts second guessing this just a tiny bit.  
  
He’s used to babies, used to playing and feeding and -but, those were his sisters though, and this is practically a stranger.  
  
But, like, she’s probably more afraid of him then he is of her.  
  
Not that she’s a spider or anything.  
Baby.  
  
Right.  
  
  
  
She’s just laying on the couch, watching him with curious eyes.  
  
If she had ears, they’d probably twitch and turn at every sound he makes, and he frowns a bit at the thought.  
  
“Hi.” He says with a smile as he sits down by her.  
All he gets in return is a wide-eyed stare.  
  
  
After spending a good minute just staring at her, he figures he’s being a bit creepy, so he picks her up instead.  
  
She doesn’t protest, just blinks as he supports her head and lays her down in his lap, her head at his knees, and her tiny feet resting up against his stomach.  
  
“Hi.” he repeats again, a bit cheerier this time and her lips twitches slightly. “Hi little baby girl.”  
  
He crawls his fingers up her legs, starting at her feet and ending with tickling her belly and she squeals in delight, which makes him relax a lot more.  
She kicks at him, smile never leaving her face, and eyes shining with expectance as he does it over and over again, until she seems to grow a bit tired of it.  
   
  
“We get along great don’t we?” He says, poking at her sides to get more giggles out of her.  
  
“Daddy had nothing to worry about, I’m you’re favorite person in the whole wide world, aren’t I? No one’s as cool as uncle Louis, mark my words!” He’s not really sure if he’s allowed to call himself her uncle, but it’s not like she understands, and no one else is around to hear it, so.  
  
“Zayn will probably try to convince you he’s cooler, but don’t listen to him, okay? In fact, don’t ever believe anything he says about me, it’s all lies I tell you. Capisce?” He glares at her, as threateningly as he can, and when she jolts a bit, he takes it as agreement.  
  
“Good.” He says, nodding. “You should always listen to what uncle Harry says though, he’s usually very wise. Your daddy as well I s’pose.. And me off course.”  
  
  
She starts getting fussy a few minutes later, so Louis carries her with him to the kitchen to make some milk.  
He places her on the kitchen table, figuring it’ll be safe as she doesn’t really move around much, and then quickly makes the bottle.  
  
  
The house is really silent, compared to the dorm halls where there’s always people talking and doors slamming.  
  
He usually prefers the sounds, it reminds him of back home with his noisy sisters, but he really enjoys the quiet right now.  
  
As he walks back past the stairs, he can hear the soft snores Zayn’s making, but both Liam and Harry are completely silent.  
That’s good though, he doesn’t doubt that they’re both fast asleep as well, and he envies them.  
  
  
When he settles back on the couch it seems softer and comfier, and the house seems warmer, and Louis is definitely tired.  
  
He yawns as he looks down at Millie, her eyes droopy as well, and the speed of which she’s eating slowing down with every second that passes.  
  
Yeah, he’s _definitely_ having a lie-down on the couch once she’s asleep.    
  
  
  
Though Louis _knows_ he’ll hear it if Millie makes a sound or moves around, he still waits to lie down until she’s actually asleep.  
Thankfully, it doesn’t take long, the instrumental, clinging lullabies still playing when her breath evens out.  
It’s not cold inside, but still, she’s on the floor, so he gets a blanket from the couch and carefully tucks her in.  
  
  
  
He’s just fallen asleep when he hears someone walking upstairs.  
  
A quick listen tells him that it’s not Zayn, and the footsteps kinda sound like Harry, but he doesn’t know if he’s just imagining that.  
  
He’s not sure if he wants it to be Harry, to be honest.  
  
He knows they’re gonna have to talk, and he doesn’t really look forward to it.  
  
  
He lies still as the person walks into the bathroom, pees, washes, and then walks down the hall.  
  
His heart picks up the pace as he wills whoever it is to go back to sleep - it’s ridiculous, really, but he can’t exactly force his heart to slow down.  
  
If it’s Liam, he can just pretend to sleep, and it’ll be fine. But Harry knows Louis is a light sleeper, and that someone simply walking into the room would wake him.  
  
  
The top step of the stairs squeaks, and Louis sighs, closing his eyes and forcing his breath to even out.  
If it’s Harry, he may be gracious enough to let Louis fall back asleep.  
  
  
He’s ninety percent sure it’s Harry when said person walks into the living room, and it’s confirmed when familiar fingers runs through his hair.  
  
Louis blinks his eyes open and gives him a small smile.  
  
“Scoot over for me?” He requests quietly, obviously aware of Millie sleeping, and Louis lifts the upper part of his body so that Harry can squeeze in.  
  
They shuffle around a bit, but eventually Harry lies down on the couch with Louis practically on top of him, head pillowed on his chest.  
  
  
“I turned to spoon and was met with a body that wasn’t yours.” Harry says.  
  
“Yeah, Liam was really tired, but didn’t wanna share a bed with Zee, so I said he could join you. Hope that was alright?”  
  
“Yeah,” Harry replies, moving his hand so he can run his fingers through Louis’ hair again. “Just haven’t had anyone who wasn’t you in my bed for ages. Felt a bit weird.” Louis hides his smile against Harry’s t-shirt. “Well, except for Millie anyway, but the two of you are quite distinguishable.”  
  
“I really hope so.”  
  
Harry hums.  
  
“Well, you’re both cute, ticklish, small-”  
  
“Oi!” Louis hits his chest, but there’s really no force behind it, and it just makes Harry laugh, so instead he locates the tiny nub of his nipple through his shirt, and bites it.  
 _That_ makes Harry simultaneously gasp, squeak and arch his back, which Louis decides is close enough to the desired effect.  
  
“Don’t wake the baby.” He chides with a smirk.  
  
  
  
Louis gives Harry time to recover after the minor assault, but the silence quickly turns heavy and charged.  
  
He lies still on top of him, trying his very best to ease himself back into a slumber, but he’s too nervous to calm down, and he can hear Harry’s heart beating a tad too quickly as well.  
  
  
“I meant what I said last night,” he confesses silently, “I really do love you.”  
  
“I love you too.” Harry replies without hesitation, and it loosens the knot in his stomach. He lifts his head and kisses him gently, before snuggling back into Harry’s chest.  
  
“So.. _how_ mad are you?” He dreads the answer, the entire conversation really, but it needs to be done.  
  
“I’m not really mad to be honest. More.. Confused? Hurt.” The last word is mumbled, and it makes a lump form in Louis’ throat.  
  
“I’ve been a shit, I know.” He agrees, and Harry tightens his hold on him. “I’m, like, I don’t wanna make excuses, my actions are my own, or whatever, but it’s just. All these people are telling me how long distance never work, and especially at our age and whatnot.  
And I know I shouldn’t let it get to me, but it’s really hard to ignore.”  
  
“I get that, I just wish, like, that you’d talk to me about it, you know? Like if you’re insecure in our relationship, just call me, talk to me. Don’t shut me out.”  
  
“I know.” He says into Harry’s t-shirt.  
  
  
It’s just that he doesn’t know _how_.  
   
He doesn’t want to whine to Harry every time someone mentions something that could essentially affect a relationship like theirs.  
  
He knows he’s lucky, not everyone gets to find someone as amazing as Harry, and he still can’t quite believe that he get to call him his.  
  
It’s just. Louis is insecure, like, about pretty much everything. Especially about Harry.  
And he’s terrified of doing something to drive Harry away, doesn’t want to be the stupid whiney boyfriend that Harry eventually gets sick of and leaves.  
  
Like, who thinks constantly needing reassurance is a cute personality trait?  
  
He wishes he could be all confident and say that Harry will never find anyone better, anyone more worthy of him, but he can’t, because it‘s not true.  
  
A human and a hybrid - it’s a relationship set for disaster.  
He’ll never be good enough for Harry, and one day Harry will realize that as well.  
  
  
“Louis..” Harry says, drawing circles on his lower back, and successfully stopping his train of thoughts.  
  
“Sorry.”  
  
“If I didn’t want to be with you, I wouldn’t, okay? I’m not too soft to break up with someone, and I’m not cruel enough to pull you along.”  
  
“I know you’re not.” Louis assures him.  
  
“So what are you so afraid of?”  
  
“Just because you like me _now_ doesn’t mean you wont find something better later.” Harry sighs.  
  
“I _love_ you Louis, I can’t even imagine being with someone other than you. Besides, you’re just as likely to find someone else.” Louis almost snorts, but he manages to keep it in. “You know what I’m scared of?”  
  
Louis shakes his head in the confined space.  
  
“I’m afraid you’re gonna get so lost in your own mind, that you somehow convince yourself I’ll leave you, and then do something stupid to, I don’t know, speed up the inevitable or something.”  
  
  
Louis bites down on his lip - the thought has crossed his mind a few times.  
Break up with Harry before he gets to attached and whatnot.  
  
It’s just that it’s a little too late for that. Besides, he wouldn’t be able to look at Harry, or hear his voice, and simply walk away.  
And doing it over text is just cruel.  
  
He could cheat, give Harry a reason to break up with _him_ , but Louis just isn’t interested in shagging anyone else, not to mention the fact that he really, _really_ couldn‘t bare hurting Harry like that, so that’s not really an option either.  
  
  
“I don’t think I’d be able to.” He says honestly.  
  
Harry sighs, Louis feeling it just as much as he hears it.  
  
“Why did you kiss Zayn?”  
  
“It was nothing like that!” He assures quickly. “We just, like, he’s never been interested in boys, he’s never even kissed a boy before, and he used to be really sure he never would. Same as I wouldn’t ever kiss a hybrid. So we just kinda, tried? To see what it was like, and to prove to ourselves that we had changed. Or something. It made more sense last night.” Harry breathes out a single laugh, so Louis moves to rest his chin on Harry’s chest instead, so he can look properly at him.  
  
“I really am sorry about it. I figured you wouldn’t mind if I told you right away, like it wouldn’t count as cheating..” There’s a small smile curled over Harry’s lips, and Louis can’t help but lean up and kiss the edge of it.  
  
“Well, I appreciate you being honest about it. Wasn’t exactly a fun call to get though.”  
  
“I know. Sorry.”  
  
  
“Was it like. Um, like a peck? Or full on make out?” Harry cringes as he asks and Louis has to bite his lip not to laugh at his - very cute - expression.  
  
“Just like, a peck, a few seconds. No tongue, not even, like, lips moving.”  
  
“Okay.” Harry breathes. “I forgive you.”  
  
“Yeah?” He can’t help smiling wide, and Harry mirrors it for a few seconds, before adding, “Never again though.”  
  
“Never!”  
  
  
“I was mostly mad at Zayn anyway. That he was taking advantage of you.”  
  
“At least now we know why he’s been acting like that.” Louis says and Harry laughs, once, and very loud. Millie makes a noise, but doesn’t wake up.  
  
“Who would’ve guessed he had a thing for _stupid, troll-stomping_ Liam?” He says, laughter laced in his voice, and Louis has to muffle his own giggles with Harry’s chest.  
  
“Well, hopefully now he will stop giving me ideas about how perfect of a family you, Liam and Millie would make.” Louis concludes, but then realizes that with the jealousy Zayn’s shown so far, that’s probably not so likely after all. “At least now I know everything he says is coming from his own jealousy and insecurity. I’ll have a chat with him anyway, s‘getting a bit ridiculous.”    
  
“That’d probably be good, yeah.”  
  
“Seriously though,” he says, lifting himself up a bit the rest on his forearms. “ No more dick behavior, I wanna be the kinda boyfriend you deserve.”  
  
“Me too.” Harry says, even though he really hasn’t been doing anything wrong at all.  
  
Louis nods anyway.  
  
  
  
  
They must’ve fallen asleep, because when Millie starts crying, Louis opens his eyes completely disoriented.  
  
It takes a second for his eyes to be able to focus, but once they do, everything comes back to him.  
  
He stumbles of Harry in a very non-elegant way and over to Millie picking her up to soothe her cries.  
Once she’s calmed down, he casts a look at Harry, to see him awake, leaning on one elbow and watching him intently.  
  
“Guess we fell asleep.” Louis says, Harry smiles around a yawn.  
  
“She probably needs a new diaper.” He says, as he gets up and leads the way.  
  
  
There’s a changing table in the downstairs bathroom, and Louis lies her down gently while Harry opens the drawer to get a diaper.  
  
“Just strip her,” He says, pulling out another drawer full of clothes. “no reason to be in her pajamas all day.”  
  
Millie is calm while he undresses her, no wriggling or whining like his sisters used to. He takes off the diaper right away, as it’s always good to air them out a bit, and they usually rather like being naked.  
  
He kinda forgot though, that Millie is supposed to have a tail.  
As he lifts her lower body to take the used diaper away from underneath her, his eyes fixes right on the patch of skin over her bum, rimmed with a light pink scar.  
  
With time, it’ll probably fade to the point of being almost invisible. Scars do heal quicker and better the younger you are.  
When adults remove their tails, the scars usually never fade properly, not to mention the increased risk of the wound re-opening.  
  
  
“Healing up nicely, isn’t it?” Harry says with a small smile, and Louis hums in agreement, though he has no idea how it looked before. “Liam’s been treating it with this cream he got from the doctor, helps soften up the tissue and speeds up the process.”  
  
Louis traces the tip of his finger along the scar, it’s soft, a bit softer than the skin surrounding it, and slightly raised, but that’ll go down eventually.  
  
“Did they remove the tail bone? Or was it already..”  
  
“They left - like it was a bump of bone standing out, and the doctor said it would be better for her to remove it completely.” Louis nods, that’s what they do on adults as well, remove it all the way to where it’s connected to the spine.  
  
  
“We should probably dress her before she gets cold.” Harry says, giving Louis the diaper.  
  
Now, this is something he’s used to; dressing babies, and he quickly puts on the clothes Harry hands him, headband with pink ears included.  
  
  
“Liam said he’d probably be up by now,” Louis says as they exit the bathroom. “so I don’t know, like, if she should eat again, or?”  
  
“Nah, she doesn’t really have any routines. You fed her before she went to sleep, yeah?” Louis nods. “Okay, so she’ll let us know when she’s hungry again.”  
  
“Alright.”  
  
  
Louis sits down on the couch, laying her on his lap like he did earlier, and lets his tail fall heavily onto her belly, smiling when she blindly tries to grab for it, as it’s not in her line of sight.  
Once she’s close to getting it, he lifts it, waving it over her head till she lifts her hands for it, and then let it thump down on her belly again, grinning at her when she smiles.  
  
He chances a quick glance at Harry, just as he raises his tail again, and the soft, fond smile that meets him makes his breath hitch for a second.  
He can feel warmth creeping up his cheeks, but he ignores it as best he can as he keep playing with Millie.  
  
  
  
They’re in the middle of heating another bottle of formula when Liam tumbles down the stairs.  
  
“In the kitchen!” Louis calls, and he hears a muffled “shut the fuck up!” in return.  
  
“Zayn’s awake then.” He says as Liam enters the kitchen, looking around. “Well, he’s still in bed, but he yelled at me to shut the f- um, shut up.” Even though Millie has no idea what he’s saying, he’s pretty sure both Harry and Liam will glare at him if he swears in front of her.  
  
“Oh.” Liam says as he walks over and plucks Millie from Louis’ arms, giving her cheek a soft kiss. “Did she sleep for long?”  
  
“Like an hour, hour and fifteen maybe?”  
  
“Alright, well that’s good.” Liam says with a smile, giving her cheek another kiss before handing her back to him. “I’m just gonna take a quick shower.” He says, pointing in the direction of the bathroom, and waits for them both to nod before he turns and leaves.  
  
  
Louis grabs a couple of painkillers and fills up a glass of orange juice.  
  
“Do you want toast?” He asks, raising his voice just a tad, and Harry turns to look at him.  
  
“Um.” He says. Louis just point a finger against the ceiling.  
  
“Yes.” Zayn mumbles from upstairs.  
  
“What do you want on it?”  
  
“Butter. Just.”  
  
“Okay, gimme a few minutes.” He responds as he grabs two slices of bread and pop them in the toaster.  
By the time they’re done and buttered, Harry is already feeding Millie, so he mumbles that he’ll be right back and grabs the food for Zayn.  
  
  
He follows the sound of displeased grunts and sheets rustling, and knocks on the door once - because he’s nice like that - before he enters.  
  
“I come bearing gifts.” He says, and Zayn respond by burrowing his face deeper into the pillow. “Not feeling to well then?”  
  
“Painkillers?” Zayn asks and Louis snorts.  
  
“And orange juice. Come on , be a big boy. You’ll feel better.”  
  
“Can you take a wee for me?” He asks with a pout as he sits up, making grabbing motions.    
  
“’Fraid it doesn’t work like that.” Louis answer, sitting down at the edge of the bed. “How’s your memory then?” He asks once Zayn has swallowed down the pills and half a toast.  
  
“Vague.” He mutters, keeping his eyes locked at the toast in his hand, and Louis sighs.  
  
“Which means….” Zayn shrugs.  
  
“I remember the taxi ride. That’s about it.”  
  
“So you remember all the things you told me before we left then?” Louis says, and Zayns tail twitch for a second.  
  
“No, not really.” He says, and then drinks half the glass of juice.  
  
“Want me to tell you then?”  
  
“It’s fine. Can we leave soon?”  
  
“It’s not even eleven.” it’s like ten fifty-five. Details.  
  
“Don’t you have a paper to write though?”  
  
“Yeah, but it can wait a few more hours.”  
  
“But it‘s-”  
  
“Zayn. If you wanna leave, that’s fine, we’ll drive you to the bus stop even. But I’m staying for dinner.” Not that he was invited, but.  
  
“You _know_ how much I hate taking the bus alone.”  
  
“And _you_ know how rarely I get to see my boyfriend.” Louis counters, and Zayn glares at him for a moment before he sighs exaggeratedly.  
  
“Fine.” He finally bites out. Louis just rolls his eyes, and gathers the now empty glass and plate.  
  
“Meet you downstairs.” He says, “Bathrooms across the hall.”  
  
  
It takes another good ten minutes before Zayn comes downstairs, stomping like the petulant child he is.  
  
Liam has been giving Louis stares and head-tilts since he came back down, but he just ignored him, cuddling up to Harry instead.  
  
If he said something, Zayn would’ve heard it anyway, and make everything ten times more awkward.  
  
  
“Good morning sunshine!” Louis says brightly, and Zayn graciously flips him off, eyes on anything but Liam.  
  
“Did you sleep alright?” Liam asks.  
  
“Um. Yeah. Thank you for letting my have your bed.”  
  
“How did you know it was his bed?” Louis asks as innocent as he can muster.  
  
“I guessed.” He says coldly. “Like, alarm clock and a book and stuff.” His tail flicks and Louis smiles sweetly at him.  
  
  
“Is it okay if we stay for a little longer?” Louis asks Harry, and he nods right away.  
  
“Um, if you don’t mind Liam? Or we can go to mine.”  
  
“No it’s fine.” He says with smile.  
  
“I’ll let mum know you’ll stay for dinner?” Harry asks, which, right, Sunday tradition.  
  
“Yes please, if you don’t mind.” Harry kisses him briefly.  
  
“Course not. Just gotta grab my phone upstairs.”  
  
“I’ll come with you.” Liam says, “I‘ll put Millie down for a nap in her room.”  
Zayn goes to sit in the armchair, eyes locked on the telly.  
  
“Can you not be a dick today?”  
  
“I haven’t done anything.” Zayn defends, and Louis just rolls his eyes.  
  
  
“Back to same old then.” He hears Harry murmur upstairs.  
  
“I guess. I just. I don’t get him.” Louis glances over to Zayn. His posture is stiff, and his ears moves slightly as he listens.  
  
“Are you okay?” Harry asks after a few seconds.  
  
“Yeah. Honestly. I don’t really care.” Zayn huffs out a annoyed breath at that, and Louis can’t help but snort.  
  
“You made your bed.” He says, ignoring the dirty look he gets in return.  
  
  
  
  
It’s kinda tense, but that was expected.  
  
Louis is curled up against Harry on one side of the couch, Liam sitting at the other end, and Zayn in the armchair.  
  
They’re all sleepy and lazy, so they put on some movie they’ve all seen before, get some snacks, and then just lounges there for a good hour and a half.  
  
  
Louis lets Liam know when Millie is awake, he’d kinda planned to go get her himself, but he _really_ couldn’t be bothered as he is quite comfortable where he is.  
  
Liam groans and stretches - back popping as he does, but before he manages to tumble off the couch, Zayn is up and walking towards the stairs.  
  
“Hi sweetheart.” He coos a moment later, before he adds. “It’s rude to listen in on other people’s conversations Louis.” Louis snorts.  
  
“Zayn.” He explains when Harry and Liam looks weirdly at him. Liam’s cheeks reddens a fraction, but he turns his attention back to the telly.  
  
  
“Someone needs a diaper change.” Zayn says as he comes downstairs again, carrying Millie at an arms length.  
Liam gets up and gently takes Millie, his fingers brushing Zayns, and Louis is literally seconds away from commenting on the sexual tension when Harry pinches his thigh.  
  
“What?!” He squeaks, in a very manly way, and Harry just stares pointedly at him. Louis frowns, but keeps his mouth shut.  
  
  
Millie is, thankfully, able to entertain herself, given a couple of things that either shines or make noise, so they can keep up their lazy ways till they get ready to have dinner with Harry’s mum.  
  
  
  
It’s Harrys grandma who opens the door, and she pulls them all in for hugs before she lets them through.  
  
“Louis darling!” She says delighted, and Louis can’t keep the smile of his face, she always makes him feel welcome.  
  
“Hi ma.” He answers, he’s been strictly forbidden from calling her anything else, and apparently, so has Liam, as he Louis notices him kissing her cheek and asking how she is.  
  
They’re ushered to the table right away, and just as they sit down, Anne comes in with a big pan of some kinda stew, if the smell is anything to go by.  
There’s also homemade bread, and they all eat till they can hardly move, and then just sit about chatting while they let the food sink to make room for some cake.  
  
  
Harry is nothing but loving the rest of the day, showing that he truly has forgiven Louis’ stupid drunken kiss with Zayn, and Louis couldn’t be more revealed.  
  
He really is set on getting a grip of himself, he wants to be right for Harry, wants him to know that he’s loved and that Louis is in this relationship with everything he has.  
  
It might not last forever, but Louis will _not_ be the reason why it ends.  
  
  
  
About an hour after dinner, Harry leans over to him, placing a hand rather high on his thigh.  
  
“What are the chances we can get away with me blowing you before desert?” He whispers, squeezing once.  
  
He looks over at Zayn, who seems to be engrossed in a conversation with grandma, so Louis nods once and Harry stands up and casually leads them upstairs.  
  
  
“I have something or you.” Harry says as they walk down the hall.  
  
“You don’t have to woo me with cheesy porn lines.” Louis replies, to which Harry turns around just to roll his eyes. There’s a grin spread across his face though, so.  
  
  
When they enter the room, Harry grabs a medium sized cardboard box from the corner of his room.  
It has a big white sticker on it, Louis’ name and school address written on it.  
  
“I was gonna send it in the mail.” He explains.  
  
“If this is my Christmas gift I’m rather disappointed, cause I certainly plan on seeing you again before then.”  
  
“No. It’s, um, and advent calendar? Just like a small thing for each day, nothing expensive.” Louis takes the box from him and sets it on the floor, before pulling him into a hug.  
  
“Thank you! I didn’t get you anything though..”  
  
“It’s okay! I know we didn’t talk about it so. But yeah, just figured it’d be nice.” Harry pulls back and shrugs, and he looks so bashful, so unsure, as if Louis could possibly be upset about this.  
  
“I love you. God, you’re so amazing.”  
  
“I love you too.” Harry mumbles, his cheeks prettily reddened, and Louis pulls him in for a kiss.  
  
  
Louis lays Harry on the bed and blows him as quick and good as he can, while Harry pushes his face into a pillow to muffle his moans, and then he lets Louis straddle his waist as he wanks himself off.  
  
They kiss for another minute as they come back to their senses, before quickly wiping Harry’s chest, and grabbing the box as they head back downstairs.  
  
Zayn shoots them the deathliest of all deathly glares, and then they all eat cake.    
  
  
  
  
“I’m looking forward to Millie being old enough for you two perverts to not be able to have sex while she’s there.” Zayn says as they border the bus.  
  
“Oh come on, nothing worse then what you and Liam were up to last night!”  
  
“I’m pretty sure I didn’t have sex with him.”  
  
“Well, as close as, with the way you were all over him, grinding and begging him to take you to bed.”  
  
“I-”  
  
“You were so desperate!”  
  
“That’s not-”  
  
“Kissing him and saying he had stupid pretty eyes as you groped at his crotch.”  
  
“I didn’t-”  
“Confessing your eternal love for him as he carried you up the stairs-”  
  
“I did _not_ say I love him!” Zayn half shouts before falling back against his seat.  
  
“Thought you didn’t remember.” Louis says, trying to not sound smug, but failing completely.  
  
“Fuck off.”  
  
“Zee, come on. You clearly like him, he’s interested in you, why don’t you just admit to it? Like, you could actually be with him instead of being an emotional a prick half the time.”  
  
“It’s complicated.”  
  
“It’s really not.”  
  
“I don’t wanna talk about it, okay?” Louis sighs, but mutters a fine, knowing he’ll get nowhere no matter how much he pushes.  
  
  
Instead, he lets his mind drift to another important matter.  
  
It’s the twenty-third, which means he has exactly seven days to buy, wrap and send an advent calendar to Harry.  
Right.  
  
So, twenty-four small presents added to the actual Christmas present.  
  
Good thing he’s not a poor student then..  
  
And, like, time as well; he needs to get down to town tomorrow, if he’s gonna be able to wrap it and send it _and_ actually have it delivered by the first.  
  
Christ, why didn’t he think of this sooner??  
  
  
‘ _Random question; approximately how much per gift in the calendar?_ ’ He sits with his phone in his lap as he waits for an answer, trying his best to come up with something he can buy.  
  
‘ _Like around 2 pounds a day, some are more, some less. But please don’t feel obligated to get me anything, that wasn’t my intention. xx_ ’  Which is probably hundred percent true, but like, he has to, or else he’ll still be a shitty boyfriend.  
  
 _‘I know! :) love you xx_ ’    
  
‘ _Love you too xx_ ’  
  
Louis has to bite back a smile as he reads Harry‘s text, because god, he feels fucking giddy with love.  
Zayn hitting his stomach kinda puts a damper on it though.  
  
“What can I get him for the calendar?” He asks, because Zayn finally seems to be through with moping-while-looking-out-the-window session.  
  
“I dunno.” Is the answer he gets back, which helps a lot. Honestly. “Just, like, take a few hours to browse the mall or something.”  
  
“Yes, cause I have a loooong deadline, and even more spare time!”  
  
“Well, don’t ask if you’re gonna bitch at my answer.”  
  
“ _Well_ , aren’t you in a delightful mood today.”  
  
“Shut up.” Louis does.  
  
  
Okay, so right, tomorrow!  
He has school till two and then work from five, so he can just go straight to the mall, eat some junk while he shops and then head to work.  
  
It’ll give him two and a half hours to - _fuck_!  
  
He switched extra credits class he last week, which means he has Social Species Studies from two till two forty-five every Monday.  
  
Which means he’ll have less than two hours to shop - and the teacher wanted to have a chat with him after as well, since he’s new and like five weeks behind, and she probably wants to talk about that paper, which.  
  
Yeah, he’s not looking forward to that.    
  
He really regrets changing from the Social Foundations of Education class he had before.  
Except he really doesn’t, he didn’t even know a class could be _that_ boring, and that’s coming from a guy who failed upper sixth out of boredom.  
  
  
“Just buy like.. Candy, scented candles, maybe some Christmas stuff. Something that just reminds him of you, you know? It doesn’t have to be all cool and thought through, just cute or funny, or even practical.”  It takes a few seconds for Louis to remember what Zayn is even talking about.  
  
“Yeah, you’re right. It just.. I dunno.” He sighs. “Are you busy after school tomorrow? Come with me?”  
  
“Can’t, study group.” Right, he knows that.  
  
“Right.” He sinks in his seat, leaning his head on Zayns shoulder, and Zayn immediately leans his head on top of Louis’ “Thank you for agreeing to stay so long today. Was it awful?”  
  
“No, it was okay. Not as awkward as I thought it would be.”  
  
“Good. You know I’m always here if you need to talk, yeah?” Zayns tail flicks once before he rests it in his lap, and Louis runs his fingers through the fur.  
  
“I know.” He mumbles. “Just need to sort my own head out before I can bring in yours.”  
  
  
  
  
  
Louis spends all of Monday dreading the very last class. Or really, dreading the conversation with the teacher _after_ the class.  
  
  
When he’d signed up for the it, the previous week, he had gotten a mail from the teacher with an assignment.  
It said to write a paper; she wanted to know about him, what kinda town he had grown up in and his general view on the two species and the way society works.  
  
It had been no max nor minimum amount of words or pages, and Louis had ended up writing a good four pages in the end.  
He’d figured it was best to be honest, as, if he’d understood the secretary correctly, it was the kinda class that had a lot of thought provoking questions and work, and it was meant to challenge the students meanings and thoughts, and help them get a better view and broader perspective of the more hidden ways of manipulation in the _‘battle of the species’._  
  
Honestly it's a bit out of both his taste and comfort zone, but it was the only class who took in students this late without having tons of things to catch up on, so.  
  
  
  
It’s a rather small class actually, somewhere between thirty and forty students, more hybrids than humans, and mostly girls.  
He’s zooming in on one of the back rows when someone calls his name, and he’s quite surprised to see Niall sitting in the middle of the room.  
  
“Hi.” He says as he sits down in the chair next to him.  
  
“You haven’t been in this class before right? Did you just transfer?” Louis nods and Niall places a hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “Good on you, Lou.” He says sincerely, and Louis is about to question it when the door to the classroom slams shut.  
  
  
  
The class is alright.  
The teacher, Mrs. Hyle, is young and engaging, first giving a brief lesson and then dividing them in groups of five to discuss the subject further, while she walks around listening to peoples discussions and giving some input.  
  
  
The topic of the day is abortion, or more precisely, abortion of hybrid fetuses.  
  
It’s not the first time the human party has tried to change the laws and get a pass on it, and, if it doesn’t go through, it certainly wont be the last.  
  
  
See, any full breed human couple can get pregnant with a hybrid.  
They’ve done a lot of research on it, but no one can tell what causes it.  
  
The problem, so to say, is that they can’t do anything to stop it from happening, and once you‘re pregnant with it, it‘s too late.  
  
Hybrid fetuses develop exactly like humans for the first sixteen weeks, and there is therefore no way to determine the species in ultrasounds pre week seventeen.  
In those early weeks they form the same shape for ears, the same tailbone that humans have, it’s only that when humans ears stops moving and bones stop growing, the hybrids progress.  
  
Extracting DNA from the fetus to determine species is not an option either, because it’s very rarely done before week sixteen due to the risk of miscarriage and harm to the mum or baby.  
  
The issue with this is that abortion is only legal up to week twelve.  
  
There is, of course, exceptions for people to get later abortions than that, but you have to apply to the state, and to get it approved you need a good reason; like a serious disease on either of the two, a mental health issue for the mum, rape or incest.  
The child being a hybrid is not a valid excuse, and humans who are pregnant with hybrids and applies for an abortion for other reasons are thoroughly scrutinized.  
  
And this is what the human department wants to change, they want hybrid fetuses to be added to the list of acceptable reasons to go through with late abortions.  
  
It’s not particularly difficult to understand that the hybrid department has a issue with that.  
  
  
  
Mrs. Hyle splits them into random groups of four, leaving Louis with three girls; one human and two hybrid.  
  
Louis’ group meet up in the front row of the classroom, and they all utter their own names before falling silent, apparently each of them waiting for someone else to start the discussion.  
  
Eventually one of the hybrid girls sighs.  
  
“Right, so like. Um. I guess it _could_ be a good thing?”  
  
“Why would you think that?” The other hybrid asks, and she sounds rather offended.  
  
“Cause, like, it’s not like humans keep their hybrid babies anyway. So, it‘ll save the babies the pain..?”  
  
“Yeah,  but the hybrids are taken care of though, even when the parents don’t want them.”  
  
“Yeah, that’s true.” The hybrid agrees. “Hybrids are good at taking care of their own.”  
  
“They are. Hybrid babies are often adopted, and all their orphans and stuff are really good quality, so even if they don’t get a new home, they do get good lives.”  
  
“And, like there are those who keep their babies, and like they would probably just mindlessly get an abortion if that was an option. Not to mention all the people who’d feel pressured to.” The human adds, and the three girls nod at each other before they all turn to Louis.  
  
“Um.” Louis says, clearing his throat. “I think those who don’t want to keep their babies, they’re not gonna, no matter what the law says. Like, they’ll find a way.” His mind automatically drifts to Liam’s baby brother, and he shivers at the thought.  
  
“But still though, abortions that late is murder, if you ask me, like, it’s one thing if the mums life is in danger, or the kid is really, _really_ ill, but-”  
  
“That’s the thing though, some people don’t see hybrids as people, more like animals, and they don’t feel any worse for killing their child than they do for killing an unwanted kitten.” The human girl says, her voice laced with spite, and it intrigues him, it seems like she knows what she’s talking about.  
  
“But it’s _illegal_ though! I mean-”  
  
“But it’s just a hybrid, the police looks the other way.” She finishes, and then they all just kinda fall silent.  
  
  
“But why can’t they just, like, fake the appliance for abortion then? Just say the kid is sick or something?” The first hybrid says. Louis really should’ve listened when they all introduced themselves.  
  
“You need a doctors attest, whether it’s your or the babies health, and all abortions have to be approved by two doctors in the medical state department, one human and one hybrid.” The human replies. “And if you try for rape or incest, you’ll first have to talk to a psychologist, and if he says you’re credible they’ll extract a DNA sample from the amniocentesis and compare it to your partner or family members to make sure it’s true.”  
  
“You sure do know a lot about this stuff..” The hybrid replies, which is a bit intruding, but, well, Louis is curious as well.  
  
“My aunt and uncle were pregnant with hybrid twins, couldn’t get an abortion no matter what they tried. In the end she had him hit her in the stomach several times till she miscarried.” She shrugs as if she’s nonchalant, but it’s clear in her expression that’s she’s not. No one pushes it any further though.  
  
  
It’s not long till the teacher steps in front of the class again, and asks each group to give a quick briefing of their discussion to the rest of the class.  
  
  
  
When the class ends, Louis takes his time packing his stuff, waiting for everybody else to leave so he can have his chat with Mrs. Hyle.  
  
“Hi mate, last class of the day?” Niall asks, standing before him, and Louis nods.  
  
“Gotta talk to with the teacher before I can leave though, since I’m new and all.”  
  
“Yeah, sure, I’ll wait outside?” Louis just nods, pushing his notebook into his bag before standing up. Seeing that Niall has already left the room, he awkwardly shuffles over to the teachers desk and waits for her to finish cleaning the whiteboard.  
  
  
“Mr. Tomlinson.” She greets as she turns around, a kind smile on her lips.  
  
“Um, yeah. Hi. Louis Tomlinson.” He rambles as he shakes the hand she offers.  
  
“Beatrice Hyle. Have a seat.”  
  
  
He doesn’t know why he feels so nervous.  
It’s just a small not-really-important class, there’s not even any exams or tests in it, you just have to hand in a paper at the end of the summer term, saying what you’ve learned in class and if it’s changed you or your opinion in any way, and get it approved, and that’s it.  
  
But shit, his palms are sweaty and his heart is beating loudly and she can probably hear it; she still has that kind smile on her lips, as if she’s trying to calm him.  
  
  
“I’m really glad you joined our class, Louis.” She says as she sits down, laying her tail somewhat elegantly in her own lap. It’s a dark shade of brown, just like her hair and ears. “Can I ask you why you decided to join? You didn’t say in your paper.”  
  
Louis awkwardly clears his throat, considering for a second, but deciding that he might as well keep up the whole honesty-thing.  
  
“Um, well, the class I transferred from was extremely boring, and there weren’t many classes taking in new students so far into their program.” He says, fighting the urge to let his tail flick and show his discomfort. “And I hoped this class might give me a bit more, like challenge me, I guess.” He tacks on, because it feels like the right thing to say.  
  
Mrs. Hyle nods, pulling out a drawer and taking out a piece of paper. His, he presumes.  
  
  
“You know,” She says, ruffling the papers and laying them down on the desk before looking up at him. “it’s not often you see a hybrid with a humans perspective on things.”  
  
Louis doesn’t know what to say, so he just shrugs.  
  
“Not really a good thing though, is it?” Louis shrugs again, can feel a small lump form in his throat and he rather regrets being that honest. She wait’s a moment, giving him a chance to speak up, before she sighs.  
  
“I can tell that you’re not very keen on having this conversation.” She finally settles with, and Louis stops the shrug that comes naturally, and instead looks up at her, letting a small smile graze his lips. “I really am glad you were that honest though, and I hope I’ll get a chance to change your point of view.” Louis can tell that she wants to say more, but she seems to hold back, finally just nodding to herself.  
  
“Alright then Louis. Here’s your paper, I’ve left a small comment at the end, but as you probably know, there are no grades in this class.”  
  
“Yeah,” Louis says as he takes the pages. “thank you.”  
  
“Off course. I’ll see you next week then.”  
  
“Yeah, um, thank you.” He says again, feeling a bit stupid for repeating himself. He wonders if she thinks he lacks social skills, the smile she gives him is still kind and reassuring, and it makes blood rush his cheeks. “Okay, bye.” He finally says as he practically leaps out of his chair, grabbing his bag as he goes, and walks out.  
  
  
  
Niall is leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest and one leg bent so that he’ll probably leave a footprint on the green wall paint, and he looks so much like a high school too-cool-to-be-popular boy, that Louis can hardly contain his laugh.  
  
“What did she say?” He asks, eying the papers that Louis stuffs into his bag.  
  
“Just, you know, welcome to class and stuff. What are you doing today?”  
  
“Study group. With Zayn. As I do every Monday after school?” Which is probably why Niall is currently walking him home. Right.  
   
“Right, yeah I forgot.”  
  
  
  
  
Louis feels rather lost when he steps into the mall, having one hour and forty-seven minutes, exact, to find twenty-four gifts.  
  
He doesn’t even know where to start.  
  
Even though he knows this mall rather well now, he still takes a minute to look around and try an catalogue the shops in the area, but he quickly realizes he just has to _start_ if he’s ever gonna get anything done.  
  
First floor is a small one, only half a floor, really, and the first store on the right is a candy store, the kind with a bit more luxury stuff than what you’d by at a normal shop.  
He figures it’s a good place to start.  
  
It’s a bit expensive, no surprise there, but well, Harry did say some of the gifts cost more and some less, so.    
  
  
After a quick roam around, he does realize that there’s not really much he can buy though, most of the candy is prettily wrapped in boxes with red bows or that fancy cellophane-thingy, and costs like eight pounds.  
  
He’s about to leave the store when he sees some chocolate hearts on the counter disk. They’re not very large, but they’re all wrapped separately in different colored foil, and they have a paper heart attached to the front of them, saying things like ’ _I love you_ ’ and ’ _my sweetheart_ ’ and ’ _My best friend_ ’, and the best thing; they’re on sale for one pound fifty each, which is absolutely perfect.  
He buys five.  
  
Somehow, he feels more inspired now that he’s actually found something.  
  
  
There’s a TGR across the hall, Louis grabs a small basket as he enters.  
  
He hopes he’ll find some cute and cheap stuff here and he has a few other shops in mind as well, and on the way home he can stop by a Boots, and then maybe the Sainsbury too, if he needs anything else.  
  
Harry had assured him it was only small things, which is easy to find, but Louis doesn’t want to buy random shit just to buy it, he wants there to be a little meaning behind them all, even if it’s just Harry’s favorite chocolate or a pair of socks cause he said he needed some new ones.  
  
  
The first thing he picks up is a small wooden tree with tiny ornaments to fit on it, flat-packed off course. Harry does love the holidays, so he checks the prize before placing it in his basket.  
So far, so good.  
  
He ends up buying a few more things; a pack of Christmas decorated pencils, pretty nametags for Christmas presents, a block of colored post-it notes _and_ those small colorful thingies that you can use as small bookmarks while studying, and then he also remembers to buy wrapping paper and ribbons, and tape as well, since he’s not sure if they have any.  
  
  
On the way to the escalator he sees that one of the clothing stores has a few sales baskets outside their entrance, one with a sign saying ‘1 pound’ and one ‘3 pounds’, so he quickly makes a u-turn, almost running into a woman, and heads over.  
  
The cheapest one is mostly filled with crap, but he does manage to find a decent black and white bandana, which Harry has developed a love for recently, so he picks it up and goes to the other one.  
  
It’s not much better to be honest, but there’s a pack of two christmas themed boxers, one of them with Rudolf all over the front, and Louis is proper excited to see if Harry’s erection will match up with it to make it 3D with the red nose on the tip, so he can’t not buy them, can he?  
  
He also grabs the christmas socks, cause Harry does need some.  
  
  
  
All in all the shopping trip is a success.  
  
To his delight he comes across a few sales, making things easier, and off course giving him the opportunity to buy a bit better stuff.  
  
The baking shop is by far his favorite of the day, and he spends almost thirty pounds on christmasy cupcake wrappers, tiny cookie cutters, snowflake and tree shaped chocolate ‘drops‘, colorful powdered frosting, christmas sprinkles and a booklet on how to make various christmas decorations.  
  
He fully intends to have a  taste of everything that Harry makes with what he got him.  
  
  
After stopping by the bookstore, teahouse, and the sex shop, Louis still has twenty-five minutes to eat something before getting to work.  
  
Honestly, he has no idea how many things he’s actually bought, so he’s gonna have to buy a few more things on the way home to be on the safe side, but yeah, he’s pleased with the outcome.  
  
  
  


When he’s finally made it home, it’s almost ten and both him and his bags are dusted in snow.  
  
Louis is annoyed.  
  
First of, because he hates getting wet in general, and all his clothes feel heavy and uncomfortable, and his shoes are wet, and he’s cold.  
  
Second, because his tail takes ages to dry, unless he spends a good fifteen minutes with his fur-dryer, off course, but he needs to organize and wrap all these fucking presents so he can deliver them at the post office tomorrow and time is - well, time.  
  
At least his first class isn’t till a quarter to ten tomorrow, so that’s good.  
  
  
Zayn’s kind enough to take his bags as he enters the room and shakes most of the snow off them, lets Louis shrug of his heavy coat and peel of his wet socks, and grumble a bit, without any snide comments.  
  
“Did you find everything you need then?” He asks, sounding like a shop assistant and Louis tells him as much. He just shrugs.  
  
“Yeah.” Louis finally says, deciding to take off his jeans as well so he doesn’t get the entire floor wet, and then lets out the sigh he’s been holding in since he had that one rather difficult human customer who where buying pants for her hybrid nephew and could not get through her head that tail-holes are ‘one size fits all’.  
  
Zayn hands him the bags, and Louis pulls everything out and puts the wet bags by the door, before sitting down in the middle of the floor and arranging them as best he can, trying to figure out what to give on which days.  
  
“I brought some indian home, want me to heat it up for you?” Zayn asks, already walking towards the door.  
  
“Yes _please_.”  
  
  
When Zayn returns Louis has spread all the things around him in a half circle, twenty-two separate piles, pushed far enough away for him to be able to wrap in the middle of it all.  
  
Zayn doesn’t comment, just hands him the food and then walks to the bathroom, emerging seconds later with the fur-dryer, and grabs the computer before placing it next to Louis.  
  
“Need anything else?” He asks, and at Louis’ request he gets the scissors and a sharpie, and then he plugs in the dryer and plops down on the floor, pulling Louis’ tail into his lap, and carefully starts to dry it.  
  
Louis kinda loves him a bit.  
  
  
Louis only has twenty-two presents, is the thing, well, he has like thirty-one things, but he needed to combine some things so, yeah.  
So he’s missing presents for two days, but he’s already spent the entire bus-ride making up a plan for those.  
  
See, Harry has three exams before christmas; the ninth, sixteenth and nineteenth, while Louis has two; the fifteenth and eighteenth, with a few tests and papers scattered in between.  
  
So, on Friday December fifth, he’ll take a bus down to Harry, without Harry knowing off course, and then he’ll take him out for dinner! Which, okay, is a bit more expensive than the two pound budged Harry had used, but oh well, he’s probably gone over that one already anyway, so.  
  
And _then_ , on the seventeenth, which is in fact their six months anniversary, and will be spent apart, cramming for their upcoming exams, Louis will have a flower bouquet delivered to Harry’s school.  
  
Louis knows Harry is a sucker for romantic gestures like that, though he himself would’ve probably been embarrassed by that kind of attention in front of that many people.  
But, it’s their anniversary, their first official one that actually kinda matters, like half a year is a lot, so Louis wants to give him something special and he really thinks - hopes - that Harry will appreciate it.  
  
There’s a tiny voice in the back of his head telling him to cherish every moment and special occasion he’ll have with Harry, cause there probably wont be many more, but he tries his best to ignore that for now.  
  
  
With his tail all warm and dry and his belly all warm and full, he feels rather drowsy and would really like to just curl up on his bed and sleep, but he needs to get this done, for Harry, his perfect boyfriend who loves him, _who he loves_ , and who weren’t to lazy to do this for him.  
  
He still finds it extremely hard to move his limbs.  
  
Okay, like, it’s wrapping gifts, holy shit, he’s not about to run a marathon right, but still, it’s twenty-two gifts, which is a lot, and Louis never liked wrapping gifts.  
Honestly, he hates wrapping christmas presents for his family, though according to them he _has_ to do it himself cause like everyone else does and it’s tradition and shit, but still, that’s like five gifts and he spends an hour at least on those.  
  
Granted, it probably has to do with the fact that he’s a world class procrastinator, and takes like ten snack and internet breaks during, but.  
This is gonna take forever.  
  
  
Zayn must pick up on his lack of motivation though, cause he puts the fur-dryer away and opens his computer, putting on a play list with christmas songs, and then asks if he wants any help wrapping.  
  
Louis really does love him quite a bit.  
  
  
It all goes quicker than he would’ve thought, the two of them singing along to the music while wrapping and Louis, for once in his life, keeping things organized so that he writes the correct date on the paper of each gift.  
  
He does contemplate adding tiny notes to some of them, but it’s not like he and Harry doesn’t communicate on  a daily basis anyway, so he figures whatever little explaining he wants to do, he can text him on the mornings he gets the specific gifts.  
For that sole reason, he makes a list for himself, writing down what he gives Harry on each day.  
  
  
It takes about an hour and a half, and Zayn definitely wraps more presents than Louis and he _definitely_ wraps them neater, but they manage to get it done.  
His back is aching from sitting bent over on the floor, and his arse is sore, and not in the pleasant way, and he practically collapses over Zayn once the last gift is all ribboned.  
  
“Thank you, I couldn’t have done it without you.” He tells Zayn, overly dramatic, because he’s not good at being sappy, even if it’s over a little thing.  
  
“Everything for you my love.“ Zayn replies in a posh accent, topped of with an attempted bow, which is a bit awkward as he‘s sitting, and Louis takes it as him understanding exactly what Louis means.  
  
“Can we tidy tomorrow? I’m tired.” He pouts as best as he can while he’s talking, it’s a bit of an effort really, but Zayn’s features goes softer and his smile is all tiny and fond, and it makes Louis feel a bit like a child.  
  
Zayn nods in agreement, and they get ready for bed together.  
Zayn volunteers to turn of the ceiling lights, having to step around the puddles of dirty snow-water that Louis has left behind, and he even picks up his wet clothes and spreads them across the heated tiles of the bathroom floor.  
  
“I love you.” Louis mumbles from where he’s tucked in under his duvet, and Zayn gives him a small laugh.  
  
“If I’d known it was that easy..” He says, cutting himself of with a cheesy wink.  
  
  
  
When Louis’ alarm rings the next morning, Zayn is already gone, and the floor is clean, all the presents even put in a large plastic bag.  
  
Louis sends a quick ‘ _thank you_ ’ to Zayn, before going to answer Harry’s ‘good morning’ text, and thus realizing that he forgot to answer his ‘good night’ one before he went to bed.  
He sends a rather long one as a compensation, as he feels a bit guilty for forgetting after having just claimed he was gonna get his act together.    
  
  
It’s with a sigh and a glare at the time that he goes to shower and get ready.  
  
Normally he would sleep for another half hour, but he needs to go to the post office before class, as he wont make it later since it closes just as his last class of the day ends.  
He decides to stop by a coffee shop on the way though, to give himself a treat for voluntarily dealing with lack of sleep, though he’s not entirely sure he can afford it.  
  
  
The post office is thankfully rather empty when he gets there, and he heads straight for the shelves that has all the flat-packed cardboard boxes.  
He grabs a medium-sized one, hoping it’ll all fit because the large ones are five pounds more, and sets it up.  
It’s a tight fit, he has to pack it twice because he couldn’t get it closed on the first try, but he does manage to in the end, and he has to stop himself from shouting in victory.  
  
  
When he leaves the post office, he’s almost forty pounds poorer, and he definitely can not afford to reward himself with a  big, warm sugar-filled coffee.  
He steps into the coffee shop anyway.  
  
  
He’s contemplating whether or not he can take some money off his christmas-presents-budget, when his mum calls.  
He can probably manage if he spends the rest of December eating cheap noodles and whatever on-sale food he can come across.  
  
He should probably look to see if he can get some presents on sale as well.  
  
“Hi mum.” He answers, trying to sound cheery, though his mind’s still kinda stuck on his financial issue, he _really_ didn’t expect to spend that much on shipping, and - fuck -  he has to take Harry out for dinner and afford that flower bouquet as well..  
  
“Louis?” His mum asks, indicating that she must’ve said or asked something he missed.  
  
“Yeah, sorry. What did you say?”  
  
“Just asked you how you are. Everything alright?”  
  
“Yeah, um, yeah. I’m fine mum. How’re you? And the girls?” He takes a sip of his coffee. It burns his tongue. Probably serves him right.  
  
“We’re all good darling. How’s Harry?” His mum always asks this question, and for the past few weeks it has made him proper uncomfortable.  
It doesn’t this time though.  
  
“He’s good. I went to visit him Saturday night, talked some things through.”  
  
“I’m glad.” she says, and he can hear the smile in her voice. She’s probably known all along that something was off, mothers instinct and all, but she’s never pushed it. “So, I’ve sent you something, should probably arrive at your door this evening.”  
  
“Oh.” Is the grateful, appreciative answer he gives in return.  
  
“Let me know when you’ve got it okay?”  
  
“Yeah. I gotta go, class.” They end the call with the normal ‘ _say hi to everyone from me_ ’s and ‘ _love you_ ’s just as Louis enters his lecture hall.  
  
When he’s all settled in his seat, he takes another sip of his cup, catching a longing  look from a girl a few seats over. It’s the perfect temperature now, and it really tastes delicious, sweet from the chocolate and vanilla syrup - bitter from the wasted money.  
  
He really hopes his mum sent him some money. Or food.  
  
  
  
Zayn asks him to come to the pub with him and the lads, and Louis is really glad he has a valid excuse not to, because he’d rather keep his financial situation to himself.  
  
He stops by asda on the way home, buying a couple of pasta salads that’s half price off because of the expiration date, and some crackers that are two for one, and figures that’ll do for a couple of days, he’ll just drink plenty of tap water and tea.  
  
  
He’s glad Zayns already left when he gets back, it gives him a bit more room to catalogue what edible things he has, and what he absolutely needs.  
He hates planning, is more the buy-whatever-seems-tempting type, but he doesn’t really have a choice.  
  
  
He doesn’t get his paycheck till the seventeenth either, and he’s already booked the bus to Harry’s the eighteenth and  a train up to his parents on the morning of the twentieth.  
  
He can’t buy any presents in his old town, no way in hell, but he can cram some shopping in on the morning of the nineteenth when Harry has his exam.  
Still, it’s risky to gamble on finding everything he’ll need during a few hours, not to mention the fact that he’s extremely indecisive, especially when it comes to finding the right gifts.  
  
  
Louis sighs, locking himself in and going straight to the kitchen.  
  
He and Zayn has one shared shelf in the fridge and freezer, plus a drawer each in the cupboard, though they usually mix their things there as well.  
  
He goes to the fridge first, and it’s rather depressingly empty.  
There’s a few take away boxes - Zayns off course,  butter - which doesn’t really help much at all,  a half rotten tomato - he throws that away, a cartoon of milk which is almost empty and expired a couple of days ago - he sniffs it and, after deeming it okay, empties it in a glass, and a jar of black olives - white dots of mold swimming at the top.  
They really should change their eating habits.  
  
The freezer isn’t much better, there’s a double pack of portion sized pizza, a frozen garlic bread and three ice lollies, but Louis has no idea if he’s bought any of it.  
Still, he could probably eat it, and just replace it in January when he’s not piss poor anymore.  
  
His last hope is the cupboard, and his stomach actually, honestly twists with anticipation as he opens it and pulls one of their drawers open.  
  
There’s tea, that’s good, like four different types, so at least he’s all stocked up on that.  
Spread throughout the two drawers are also a bag of muesli cereal - which is definitely Zayns -  some canned vegetables, crackers and biscuits, and one pack of ramen noodles.  
He sighs as he pops in the crackers he bought on the way home and then closes the door.  
  
The first thing he’s doing when he gets back in January is stock up on actual edible food.  
  
  
He sets up in the living room, as no one else seems to be home and it makes it easier to answer the door, with his history book to prepare for the paper that’s due to be delivered on the first.  
Luckily it’s multiple choice on the subject and one of those are the one he focused the most on when he had his online paper exam at the end of the summer, so it should all come back to him fairly easily.  
  
  
It’s around forty minutes later when the doorbell rings, and he buzzes the delivery guy in, telling him he’ll come down and meet him, cause he might as well pick up the post at the same time.  
  
It’s a large box, like the post office’s largest box available-large, and it’s pretty fucking heavy as well.  
He signs the fancy electronic board thingy, and then curses himself as he carries it up the stairs.  
  
  
When he’s situated on his bed, legs crossed and giddy smile - probably looking like a seven year old - he pretends to the empty room and himself, that he’s actually mature and can open the wrapping paper surround the box calmly and precisely.  
  
He lasts right around five seconds before he tears it off and uses scissors to cut open the tape that keeps the lid closed.  
  
On the very top is an envelope with his name scribbled on in his mums penmanship, underneath that are some sheets of paper with loads of color on it, and then a big chocolate advent calendar, filling the box from side to side and therefore hiding whatever else is inside.  
  
He picks up the envelope first and turns it to open it.  
Scribbled across the back is ’ _Save this for last_ ’ so, never mind that then, he places it on his desk instead.  
  
The drawings are obviously from the twins, There’s one with the classic two mountains and a sun in between and loads of green grass and blue sky, then there’s one of the two of them - his mum has helpfully added on pointers with their names, one of the family, and lastly one of him and Harry.  
That one is his favorite by far.  
  
Underneath the calendar - and he doesn’t think he’ll ever get over how fucking huge it is - is heaven itself.  
Okay, so that might be a slight exaggeration, but Louis seriously feels like he’s on the verge of crying.  
  
There’s jars filled with his favorite homemade christmas cookies, four of them to be exact, there’s christmas edition candy and a box of santa-shaped chocolate cereal, and there’s hot cocoa powder mixes and even a cake mix, and canned soups and noodles and, yeah, Louis’ pretty sure this is what heaven would look like.  
  
There’s some things as well, inedible ones, like a pair of knitted mittens and some christmas decorations and a card that says ‘ _Merry Christmas from the Tomlinson’s_ ’ on the front with a picture of the family that Harry took, when he was visiting during the summer.  
  
He reads it quickly, added to the usual greetings and well-wishing, there’s a small newsletter saying what they’ve all been up to.  
  
The part about himself makes him bite his lower lip to stop it from wobbling, because his parent’s are clearly bragging about him and even through black, cold letters on a piece of cardboard paper they sounds so fucking proud of him.  
And it makes him a bit proud of himself as well, to know that all the friends and family his parents have sent this to will see all the things he’s accomplished, will see that he’s not the failure they all sought him out to be.  
  
The best bit, though, is the very last sentence. ‘ _And a big thank you to Louis’ lovely boyfriend, Harry, for successfully taking a picture of all of us smiling!_ ’  
  
  
After looking through everything twice, and eating two sugar cookies, he grabs the envelope again.  
It’s rather thick, too heavy for there to only be one letter.  
  
Turns out there’s three. There’s one from Fizzy and one from Lottie, just a single sheet of paper each, telling him they miss him and can’t wait to see him, and a drawing from Fizzy.  
  
There’s also some complaining about a boy from Lottie, which he does not like at all.  
  
He’s been worrying about this for a while to be honest, about his sisters finding boyfriends and how those boys will treat Louis.  
He can’t help but wonder how long the girls will look for someone who accepts him before they figure it’s kind of a lost case and they’ll rather have their brother getting a tiny bit harassed every now and then, than be single their entire lives.  
  
He clears his throat and neatly puts those thoughts in a box that he seals and shoves into a deep dark corner of his brain.  
  
  
The last letter, the one he assumes is from his mum, is much thicker, must be four or five pages at least, he thinks as he folds it open, and a wad of notes falls out. As in money.  
She sent him money.  
  
He contemplates the possibility that his mum is psychic.  
  
  
The letter is only two pages long.  
She fills him in on what they’ve been doing, how they did the christmas baking early this year so they could send some ‘christmas spirit’ to Louis, and all the girls helped.  
  
There’s also lists of what all the girls and his parents wants for christmas, and after that comes the part that explains the money, _because we’ve always given you some extra money for the girls’ gifts, as you were unable to work, and we know you’ve got your own income now, but still, you’re a student, so we figured we’d help a little anyway._  
Apparently, ‘help a little’ is equivalent to fifty pounds.  
  
  
Louis takes five big, calming breaths before he rings his mum.  
  
“Hello darling!”  
  
“You outed me.” Is the first thing Louis says, because apparently his brain is a bit fucked up right now, and he sounds like the most ungrateful bastard in existence.  
  
“Oh - I - Sorry! Louis I-”  
  
“No! No it’s fine, doesn’t matter, I honestly don’t care!” He reassures quickly to stop her stuttering.  
  
“I.. Are you sure?”  
  
“Yeah mum, off course. I’m a bit overwhelmed right now, sorry. Thank you though, so so so much!”  
  
“You liked it then?” She asks, a smile back in her voice.  
  
“Off course I did. Mum! It must’ve cost you a fortune to do that.” He speaks from experience on that one. Fuck the post and their stupid charges.  
  
“Nothing we can’t afford love.”  
  
“Well, thank you nonetheless. It really means a lot mummy.” His voice does _not_ quiver at the end of that sentence. Shut up.  
  
“You’re very welcome baby boy. Phoebe and Daisy wants to say hi.” She hands the phone over before Louis can scold her for the pet name and he chats with them for ten minutes before they have to go do their homework, and his mum comes back, only to tell him she has to finish dinner and that they’ll talk soon.  
  
  
Louis takes his time to unpack everything, deciding to keep all the treats he got in the box and put it under his bed, because he knows it’ll be gone within a day if he leaves it on the kitchen counter, as the jars wont fit in the drawers.  
  
There’s a string of colored lights red, blue, yellow and green, that he twirls around their curtain rod, it’s not like they have any curtains there anyway, and he also ponders hanging the advent calendar from Harry there, he can use the leftover gift ribbons as strings, but he’s gonna ask Zayn for permission first.  
  
  
By the time that’s done, and the christmas ornaments are placed on whatever available surfaces he could find - he’s sure Zayn will appreciate the homemade santa family perching on top of their toilet - he sits down with his computer, ready to make a budget.  
  
  
Taking in count all the things he’ll have to buy and pay for before the he gets his paycheck - and Harry is a part of like ninety-five percent of those expanses - Louis is left with two point thirty-one pounds a day.  
  
The money has to go to food, basically, and _fuck_ his phone bill, he might have to dig into the money he got from his mum after all.    
He can make do though, if he keeps track of his budget. And he didn’t include the days he wont have to buy anything because of the food he already has, not that that’s a lot, but it should cancel out a few days at least.  
Better to play it on the safe side though.  
  
He’s _so_ having fast food and a big vanilla-chocolate-whipped cream latte on the seventeenth.  
  
  
  
  
When Zayn comes home, it’s the middle of the night.  
Louis knows this because he was sleeping.  
  
There’s whispers and shushing noises and there’s giggles and the door cracking open, and Louis is pretty sure Zayn has Niall in tow, and he loves those idiots but they better fucking quiet down.  
  
And then Zayn moans.  
  
Louis freezes, his ears tuned in on the noise.  
There’s some stumbling, a bang as someone walks into something and then a female voice asks Zayn if he’s okay.  
  
So definitely not Niall then.  
  
They must be stopping by to grab something before going back to hers. Or maybe it’s just a friend who will sleep over - except then there’s wet kissing noises and _no_.  
  
“Um.” Louis says as he sits up in bed.  
  
“Fuck. Um. Can you go sleep on the couch?”  Louis fishmouths for a moment, they never throw each other out of the room to have sex, at least not without a few hours notice.  
And like, what did he think anyway? That Louis would just sleep through him fucking some random bird?  
  
Louis doesn’t answer, but there’s some more disgusting noises coming from the other side of the room, so he bundles up his duvet and pillow and leaves with a slam of the door.    
  
  
  
He’s awoken by one of the girls in the dorm making the most annoying noise as she scrapes her spoon over the bottom of her bowl.  
  
Louis opens his eyes to glare at her, but she’s ignores him completely from where she’s sitting at the end of the couch.  
He hates the fact that he doesn’t know her well enough to get away with kicking her arm.  
  
He tries to get back to sleep after she’s leaves, but she left all the lights on, and his back and neck hurts from sleeping on the lumpy excuse of a sofa.  
Plus, the annoyingly loud clock on the wall tells him it’s nearly six am, and he has to be up in forty minutes anyway.  
He contemplates watching telly and eating breakfast, but he really wants to take a shower, and he’s definitely not gonna take Zayn’s beauty sleep into consideration.  
  
Besides, he can use the extra time to study, so.  
  
  
He’s kind enough not to turn on the lights.  
The colored christmaslights he hung up last night are still on, and he can easily maneuver around the room.  
  
He is quite surprised to see Zayn sleeping on his bed though, fully dressed, while the girl is wrapped up in Zayn’s, and if the dress and panties on the floor is anything to go buy, rather naked.  
  
He grabs some clean underwear and clothes and goes for the bathroom.  
  
When he gets back out Zayn is awake, still on his bed, and looking rather lost. Louis simply arches his brow at him, before grabbing some schoolbooks.  
He does turn on the lights on the way out though.  
  
  
  
“Hi, um, so, sor- is that ..cookies?”  
Okay so maybe December wont be the most healthy month for Louis..  
  
See, he really wanted cereal for breakfast, right, but the only cereal he has is still in the box underneath his bed, and he didn’t feel like disturbing Zayn and that girls’ awkward goodbye - which, by the way she stumbled out of their dorm a couple of minutes ago with her jacket and shoes bundled up in her arms and her cheeks bright red, was very awkward indeed - so he found some of those oatmeal and cranberry cookies that has been laying in their cupboard forever, and broke them into medium sized pieces and poured milk over.  
…Not that he had any milk left either, but that annoying girl who woke him up this morning had, so.  
  
Point is, it’s delicious and Louis is a genius.  
  
“Yes it is. You were saying..?”  
  
“Right. Um, sorry about last night.” Louis doesn’t answer just raises his eyebrows, and Zayn sighs, rubbing a hand over his face before pulling out a bowl and filling it with his disgusting muesli, and then opening the fridge.  
  
“Did you use all the milk?”  
  
“I did actually. Yesterday. Just take the milk from the second shelf.” Zayn peers out from the door, looking rather skeptical.  
  
“Did you get permission to use it?”  
  
“No. But it belongs to the redhead in the room two doors down from us. She woke me up with annoying utensil-sounds this morning. This is my revenge.”  
  
“How do you even know it’s Cynthia’s?” Zayn asks, but he pours it into his bowl anyway.  
  
“She ate cereal, it was the only milk in the fridge, and there were no empty ones in the bin expect the one I put there last night. Real CIA work I tell you. How do you know her name is Cynthia?”  Zayn gives him a rather unimpressed look as he sits down opposite him and helps himself to a huge mouthful of Louis’ lukewarm tea.  
  
“She flirted with you at a club a couple of weeks back. You told her you were gay, and even if you weren’t you wouldn’t really be interested.”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
“Yeah, oh. You were referring to her being a hybrid, but she don’t know that though, just thinks you’re a proper dick. At least she’s not interested anymore.”  
  
“Speaking of being a dick..” Zayn sighs.  
  
“Yeah, like I said, sorry. I just.. I was drunk, you know, and she was really eager and. I’m just a bit confused is all.” The last part is mumbled, and Louis kinda takes pity on him, but still.  
  
“About Liam.”  
  
“I - yeah. I guess. Just the situation and all. I mean, she was human, right, and pretty enough and I figured - anyway, I couldn’t even get it up, just ate her out and went to sleep on your bed.”  Louis looks at his tea with disgust.  
  
“I hope you brushed your teeth this morning. And tongue.”  
  
“Twat.” Zayn responds, slapping his arm, but he laughs anyway.  
  
  
  
“You’ve got work today, right? And Niall?” Zayn asks as they both get ready for school.  
  
“Yup.” Honestly, Wednesday is one of his favorite days of the week.  
  
He’s only got a few lectures, and even though he has to get up quite early, he has like a  four hour break in between, which he can spend either napping or studying, depending on how much work he has, and then Niall and he has the same hour shift at the mall - though Niall works at a gaming store down the street from the mall - but they  always take the bus an hour early and have a nice early dinner together.  
  
And just as Louis starts to think about what he’ll order today, he remembers that he can’t afford it.  
  
“Can I join you guys for dinner?” Zayn asks, and Louis is about to tell him he can’t make it today, when he adds, “My treat, as a compensation for last night.”  
  
“Trying to buy my forgiveness I see.” Louis says, tsking, like he’s even considering turning down a free meal.  
Zayn bats his long, dark, pretty lashes at him, and Louis lets out an exaggerated sigh, and the smile on Zayn’s face makes it clear he knows he’s won.  
Not that Louis put up a fight to begin with, but he doesn’t need to know that.  
  
“See you at the bus stop at three then?” He says and Louis nods in return, earning himself a kiss on the cheek before they part ways.  
  
  
The day passes quickly, he ends up studying in the library - while texting Harry - for the four hours, even though he’d really like a nap.  
  
He needs to get things done though, if he’s gonna have any chance of surviving the next few weeks, so with a healthy snack of instant hot chocolate on a thermos and eight honey-nut cookies in a plastic bag, he finishes the history paper and makes study and work plans for both of his upcoming exams.  
  
He’s quite pleased with himself to be honest, even if he did choke and have a coughing fit, and then a quick bathroom break, when Harry sent him a few rather naughty pictures.  
  
After a delicious meal with the boys and a relaxing day at work spent unpacking and stocking, he and Zayn ties up his advent calendar in the curtain rack and then snack on tiny santa-shaped chocolates as they watch an episode of come dine with me.  
  
  
  
The last few days of November are gone in a second, with loads of papers and tests and prepping for the stupid exams.  
His professors all have the due date for their papers somewhere between the tenth and the sixteenth, but if he’s gonna have any time to focus on his exams at all, he needs it all done long before that.  
  
He’s been smart though, he has four papers that needs to be done, and he’s already done with two of them, and he’s got everything planned out for the last two, so if he really focuses, he should be done with the last ones within a few days.    
And his two tests are on the fifth and tenth, so even though he’s nervous as shit when it comes to the exams, he’s also rather sure that he’ll do fine.  
  
  
  
  
The first of December is a Monday, and Louis only remembers it because when he wakes up, the first thing he sees is Zayn opening his own candy calendar.  
  
He’s not really in the mood for chocolate right away himself, so he opens Harry’s present first.  
He laughs rather fondly when he unwraps a flat packed, tiny, wooden christmas three from TGR.  
  
  
  
He’s quite nervous for his test on Friday, but he’s studied as much as he possibly can, and there’s really nothing more he can do, as his test is first period.  
  
He almost sleeps through his alarm, only awakened by Zayn throwing a pillow at him, but he manages to get up and actually eat a proper breakfast - some bread rolls he bought yesterday with butter and cheese - for the first time this week.  
  
He gets a text from Harry when he’s walking to class, wishing him good luck on his test and then a _(there weren’t any present with today’s date on?)_ , and Louis sends him a _thank you babe xx_ back, and ignores the last part.  
He considers thanking him for the bag of chocolate-covered nuts Harry had gotten him, but he figures that’d be rubbing it in his face, really.  
  
  
He’s really pleased when he walks to his second class of the day.  
He’s certain about nine out of the fourteen questions on the test, and there’s only two he didn’t really know, so it couldn’t have gone much better.  
  
The rest of the day passes quickly, they don’t get any new assignments so close to exams and christmas breaks, and for the last class they’re just told to work on their papers, so when Louis tells him he’s done with it already, the professor shrugs and lets him leave.  
  
  
Zayn’s in their room when he returns, reading some book, probably for his literature class, but he puts it down when Louis walks in.    
  
“Hey, do you wanna come back to my parents tonight? Mums making homemade pizza.”  
  
“I’m going to Harry’s..” Louis says, he’s pretty sure he’s mentioned this a few times already.  
  
“Right. Um, the surprise thingy?” Louis nods. “When’re you coming back?”  
  
“I dunno, might stay the entire weekend. I’m packing for it at least, we both have to study so it’d be nice to do it together.”  
  
“Right. Got the room all to myself then.” Zayn says, and the way he waggles his eyebrows and smiles suggests he’s happy about that, but the way his jaw is tense and his tail unnaturally stiff tells him otherwise.  
  
“Like, I might not stay the entire weekend though, Harry can be rather distractive. Um, I’ll text you, yeah?” Zayn nods.  
  
“But like, don’t worry ‘bout me though, spend some time with your boyfriend, I know you miss him a lot.”  
  
“Maybe you can come over on Sunday. If I stay. Have dinner with me and his family yeah? Maybe bring Niall as well, I’m sure ma would love to see you both again.”  
  
“Yeah, maybe.” Zayn agrees with a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.  
  
  
  
The bus ride is boring. He can’t read because he’s likely to get motion sickness, and his phone is nearly dead, so he can’t listen to music or play games either.  
At least he brought the nuts to snack on.  
  
He goes over the plan in his head, though he already know everything is set in motion, and there’s really nothing more to do.  
  
It’s Harry’s weekend off, so work’s not gonna get in the way, and he’s told Liam to make plans with him for tomorrow, so that Harry will be free, and then tonight Anne has told him she wanna have a take away and movie night with him, when really, Louis has made a reservation at Harry’s favorite restaurant in the city.  
He’s really glad it’s not an expensive one.  
  
Anne’s gonna pick him up at the bus stop - tell Harry she’ll go pick up the food - and then come back home with Louis instead.  
He hopes it will be a pleasant surprise, both Anne and Liam had reassured him it would be, but Louis still can’t really shake the nerves.    
  
  
Anne is already there when he arrives, and she steps out of the car to give him a warm hug, even though it’s snowing.  
  
She can obviously tell that he’s nervous as they drive to the house; he can’t stop biting his lip, nor stop his tail from twitching, and she has a small smile tucked into the corner of her lips.  
  
“He’s gonna be so glad to see you.” She says after a few minutes, turning down the radio a bit. “He was pouting all morning, you know, since he couldn’t find any calendar gift.” She lets out a small laugh. “Not that he wanted to tell me off course, had to drag it out of him, even had to bribe him with a chocolate.” Louis chuckles.  
  
“Yeah, he sent me a text that I ignored. Felt a bit bad about it to be honest, but didn’t know what to say.”  
  
“Well, you’ll definitely make up for it now.” She says with a genuinely, and it makes Louis relax a bit. “You’re staying the weekend?”  
  
“Yeah. Um, if that’s okay?”  
  
“Off course it is, don‘t be silly!” Anne replies as the car comes to a stop in the driveway.  
  
  
“Harry, come help me!” She shouts as soon as they walk inside. There’s a grunt followed by heavy, shuffling footsteps, Louis has to stifle a laugh.  
  
Harry is looking down at the floor as he enters the hall, but he comes to a halt when he, presumably, sees two pairs of feet, and his head whips up.  
  
“Hi babe.” Louis says through a small laugh, as Harry’s jaw literally falls open.  
  
“I - what?” He says as he takes a step back, and Anne positively cackles at him, which sends Louis into a fit as well.    
When he’s finally dried his tears - well, tiny smudge of moist at the side of his eye, at least - he looks up to find Harry pouting adorably, arms crossed and eyes squinted.  
  
“Um, surprise.. advent-calendar.. gift?” He says, and gets an eye roll in return, but there’s a smile fighting it’s way onto Harry’s lips, so he figures it’s all good.  
  
  
“Are you coming in or?” Anne asks, her coat and shoes already off. Louis pulls out his phone to check the time, it’s a quarter past six already.  
  
“Um, actually, we should head to the bus soon, our reservation is at seven, and with this weather it’s better to be a bit early I think.”  
  
“Oh, you can take the car, that way you have an extra fifteen minutes.”  
  
“Oh, um-”  
  
“And I’m sure Harry would like to change first as well.” She adds, gesturing to were Harry is standing in baggy sweats and a worn hoodie.  
  
“Um, yes? Probably, but, I don’t- Where are we going?” Harry asks scratching the back of his head.  
  
“I’m taking you out to dinner, it’s a part of the gift and surprise.” He toes off his shoes, as Anne has gone to the kitchen and, with that, ended the discussion about letting Louis borrow the car.  
Not that he minds not having to take the bus and walk back and forth in the slushy snow, but he’s not exactly used to driving in this kinda weather, and he’s terrified of wrecking her car.  
  
“Louis..” Harry  says softly as Louis walks up to him and gives him a peck. “You being here is more than enough.” He kisses him a couple of more times, probably to punctuate this.  
  
“Yeah, well, we still have a reservation, so I’d like to not miss it.”  
  
“Right!“ He says with widened eyes and practically leaps up the stairs to get changed, and - fighting the urge to follow him upstairs and watch - Louis heads into the kitchen to find Anne; he still needs to get the car keys after all.  
Shit, he’s definitely gonna drive at a snails pace.    
  
  
“Told you he‘d be ecstatic.” She says, her back turned to him as she fiddles with the oven. Warmth gathers in Louis’ cheeks. “The car keys are on the counter, some money as well.”  
  
“Eh.” There’s a twenty and two tenners lying there, and he wonders if there’s been some kinda worldwide announcement about his situation. “What..?”  
  
“Deserts on me.” She says simply, this time turning around with a smile.  
  
“Don’t think they even have a desert that expensive.”  
  
“Then have a starter as well then, or spend some extra on dinner.”  
  
“Anne you really don’t-”  
  
“I know.” She says with a shrug. “I also know that you’re a student with limited income, and I know that you and Harry have spent quite a bit on those calendars. Unlike you though, Harry doesn’t have to pay for food and shelter.  
You being here right now is enough of a gift Louis, so just let me pay for this one, yeah?” It’s second nature to Louis to refuse, but he bites it down, he could certainly use the money.  
  
“Thank you. Really.” He says instead, and she gives him a soft smile just as Harry runs back downstairs.  
  
  
Louis goes to the loo to have a wee and fix his hair, and then they bundle up against the cold and head out.  
The snowflakes have turned into rain, and thick jackets and winter boots doesn’t do much to keep them warm when the wind is blowing it straight into their faces.  
  
He drives ten below the speed limit, at most, seeing as the roads are slippery and the view is poor.  
The few other cars he sees out on the road are going just as slow as him though, so he doesn’t feel bad even though he has a car practically tailing him.  
He _does_ drive into a bus stop to let him pass, he’s not a complete arse, and he’s pretty sure the guy flips him the bird as a thank you.  
  
  
Seeing as the restaurant is connected to a small mall, it’s actually rather crowded despite the weather.  
  
He’d requested a table towards the back, which he got seeing as he made the reservation like a week ago, so they’re able to get away from all the noisy teenagers that are gathered in the middle of the room.  
  
They share a starter of fries and onion rings - courtesy of Anne off course - as they wait for the main courses,  legs tangled and hands constantly touching, and it feels a lot like a first date, makes Louis all bubbly inside. It’s good, great really, like a new start after the past few weeks.  
  
Harry seems to enjoy himself as well, smile and dimples appearing more than not, and Louis really can’t help but lean over and kiss him several times throughout the meal, even if he does get rice stuck to his sweater.  
  
  
They decide to go somewhere else for desert, as a group of like ten people, children included, sits down next to them, chattering extremely loudly, and making it impossible for the two of them to hold a normal conversation.  
  
Louis lets Harry choose where to go, and he, off course, heads for McDonalds, because he wants apple pie and toffee sundae, and there’s apparently nowhere else that’s good enough.  
  
Louis’ not complaining though, he has a lot more money left than he was prepared for, and, if he gets Harry to agree, they can head into town and do some christmas shopping tomorrow; Louis needs to get something for Zayn and Niall without either of them being there, and they can have lunch at a café.  
  
Fuck, he can even afford to buy himself a proper coffee, and that’s like the best news he’s gotten all week.  
  
  
“Thank you for today, it was great.” Harry says as they’re walking back to the car park, swinging their hands back and forth like kids.  
  
“You’re very welcome.” Louis says with a smile that quickly turns into a smirk. “Your mum said you were quite grumpy this morning when you thought I forgot to get you anything.” Harry groans, his cheeks blossoming with a pink color, and Louis can help but laugh as he lets his hand go so he can pull him in by his waist and kiss the warmth there.  
  
“It’s the highlight of my day.” Harry mumbles, and this time it’s Louis who blushes. He’s never been good with these sort of affectionate talks.  
  
“Me too,” He says quickly, “really enjoyed those nuts on the bus.” Harry shrugs, but there’s a smile on his lips though.  
  
“It’s not, like, the most romantic thing, or whatever but..”  
  
“No, hey, but they’re my favorite, the salty ones, and just that you know those small things is kinda romantic, I think.” He gets the keys to the car out, unlocking it with the button as they walk the last few steps.  
Harry grabs his wrist, making him stop and face him, just as they’re about to walk to their doors.  
  
“Seriously, thank you.” He says, kissing him softly, “I love you. A lot.”  
  
“Yeah, yeah, you’re not so bad yourself.” Louis replies, patting him on the cheek and turning his back to him, Harry grabs him though, just like he knew he would, and spins him around again.  
  
“Arse.” He says, bright smile spread all over his face. Louis sighs and rolls his eyes.  
  
“Fine. I love you too. Loads. Like ginormous amounts. Happy?” Harry nods, kissing his nose, which makes Louis wrinkle it in disgust - and a whole lot of fond - before letting him go so they can drive home.  
  
  
When they get back Anne is curled up on the couch, asleep, so they put the raspberry- and white chocolate muffin they bought her on the kitchen counter - adding a note for her - and head upstairs.  
  
  
“You’re staying the night, right?” Harry asks, already starting to strip out of his clothes.  
  
“Yeah, um, the weekend actually, if you don’t mind? Brought my books for studying and all.” Harry rolls his eyes as he unbuttons his jeans, starting to slide them off, but making no move to take off his boxers.  
  
“Off course I don’t mind.” He says, “Maybe we can head down to the library tomo - oh fuck I have plans with Liam, I totally forgot!”  
  
“No you don‘t, we just made sure you didn’t make plans with anyone else.”  
  
“Oooo. That’s smart! Why are you still dressed though?”  
  
“Um. Since it’s, like, not even ten pm.” Louis looks pointedly at his bare wrist as he says so, but Harry ignores him, pulling out a clean pair of undies from his drawer.  
  
“Come on, we’re gonna go have a bath!” He says instead.  
  
“In your mums bathtub?”  
  
“Yes? She’s asleep. And it’s not like she minds anyway, I use it all the time.” Louis’ about to make a comment on that when Harry adds, “And grab the lube.”  
  
“In _your mums bathtub_?” He all but shrieks. Harry just rolls his eyes at him though, steps past him to grab a small bottle of lube and walks out the door.  
  
He stands still, gaping after him for a moment, before he picks his jaw off of the floor and follows.  
He might be scandalized, but there’s no way he’s missing out on it.  
  
  
They spend a good ten minutes soaking in the warm, bubbly water, Louis casually sitting between Harry’s legs, pretending like they both don’t know where it’s all going.  
  
It’s nice though, relaxing, even though Louis’ never been a fan of baths.  
It’s just, like, lying in water filled with your own dirt doesn’t seem very hygienic, does it, and also the fact that his tail gets extremely soggy.  
In the shower he can at least hold it away from the spray, but that’s a bit harder in the bath, unless he’s belly down and floating.  
  
  
Harry offers to wash his hair, massaging the shampoo into his head in a way that has Louis groaning embarrassingly, and has Harry’s erection growing against his back.  
  
It escalades quickly from that, Harry washing down his back before his fingers sneak down and under and between and then a single one slips inside.  
It slides easily up to right around the second knuckle, before the effect of the soapy water ceases, but Harry keeps moving in and out, teasingly, for a bit before he reaches over to where he’s placed the lube on the edge of the tub.  
  
Louis twists around in the confined space, so that he’s straddling and facing Harry instead, and watches as Harry drags his fist over three fingers, coating them in the clear gel.  
He rises up a bit on his knees to give Harry better access, tries to raise his tail out of the water as well, but it’s too heavy for him to bother holding it up, so he drops it with a splash, that, for some reason, makes Harry’s smile brighter.  
  
When Harry starts opening him up, Louis leans forward and kisses and bites at his neck and shoulder to silence himself.  
It tastes a bit like soap, but he ignores it, and instead focuses on not biting too hard, in case Anne is awake when they go up to Harry’s room and sees his neck littered in red marks.  
Even though she’s probably well aware of the fact that they have sex, he’d rather not give her cold hard proof.  
  
  
Louis rides him slowly, enjoying the warmth of both the water and the room, not to mention the privacy, even though they try their best to keep quiet.  
The water swooshing as they move is the most prominent sound, and not particularly sexy as far as background noises go, but it’s easy to ignore when he can feel the drag of Harry inside him like this.  
  
He’s actually really into it, it seems, as he doesn’t hear anyone approach before there’s a soft knock on the bathroom door.  
  
It makes them both halt, and there’s a loud, squeaky noise as Harry’s skin drags against the bottom of the bathtub.  
  
“Yeah?” He asks a few seconds later, his voice just a tad too breathless.  
  
“Just thought I’d get ready for bed soon.” Anne replies, the _get out of my bathroom_ unsaid but duly noted.  
  
“Yeah, we’re almost done.” Harry says. Louis not sure if he’s more embarrassed or amused. “Just gotta finish washing our hair.”  
  
Anne walks away with no response, and Louis stays put until she’s reached the kitchen, well out of hearing distance.  
  
“Right.” He says, still sitting put, though his erection has certainly gone down a bit. Harry’s hasn’t though, so he’s not quite sure what to do.  
Turns out he doesn’t have to make a decision at all, because Harry starts moving slowly again, now even more aware of the noise they make, and wraps his long fingers around Louis as well, to get them both off as quick as possible.  
  
  
Once they’ve rinsed off both themselves and the bathtub, making sure it’s absolutely spotless - aka no come left anywhere -, they dry up as best they can, before wrapping towels around their waists and slowly exciting.  
  
Anne is back on the couch, flipping through the channels, and she looks on with raised eyebrows as they walk into the living room.  
  
“Sorry for occupying. Just wanted a warm, relaxing bath. Were frozen to our bones after being out in that weather.” Harry says.  
  
“It’s fine. Did you have a nice date?”  
  
“Yeah, it was lovely.”  
  
“I left the keys on the kitchen counter.” Louis adds.  
  
“Yeah, I saw. And thank you for the cupcake, I‘m saving it for breakfast.” She says as she turns off the telly and gets up. “Alright, I‘m off then, night boys.”  
They both say goodnight, none of them moving for hugs or cheek-kisses, as they would usually do; it feels a bit weird since they’re naked save for the towels.  
Anne doesn’t seem puzzled though, just smiles at them and turns the light off as she leaves the room.  
  
  
  
  
The first thing they do when they wake up the next morning is open their calendar gifts.  
Louis brought the gifts for the sixth and seventh along with him, so he grabs it out of his bag and sit up crossed-legged on Harry’s bed as he waits for Harry to untie his from the metal-christmas-three-advent-calendar-hook-rack-thingy he has on his wall.  
  
He tells Harry to open his first, having planned out what to give with him being there in mind, and he feels pleased when Harry laughs as he pulls out the pack of ten sachets of different flavored lube.  
  
“I hate cherry flavors, so that’ll be yours.” He says as he reads the list on the side of the box.  
  
“I can live with that.”  Louis replies as he turns his own gift in his hands a couple of times, the movement enough to gain Harry’s attention and get approval to open it.  
  
  
“It actually goes very well with your gift.” He says as Louis removes the last bit of wrapping paper.  
  
It’s a box with the word ‘His’ written on it, a picture of a steaming cup of tea below.  
  
“It’s a tea for men.” Harry explains as Louis turns the box around. “It’s a herbal mix that’s supposed to, like, strengthen your muscles and concentration, and give you energy-”  
  
“And help my sexual performance.” Louis supplies, reading off of the back. “Are you hinting at something?”  
  
“You know I’m not.” Harry says with an eye roll, which soothes him a bit, he’d be worried if Harry had stuttered out a denial. “Just thought it was a bit cool, I dunno.”  
  
“It is, thank you. I’ll have a big cup before going to bed tonight.” Harry laughs, a blush creeping up his cheeks, but  his expression is nothing but pleased.  
  
  
  
Anne has already left when they get downstairs, so they just eat a quick breakfast  before gathering up their things and heading for the library in town.  
  
They figured it’d be the safest thing to do, seeing as they wont be able to distract each other the way they would if they were alone, and they really _do_ need to study.  
  
They last four hours before they go out for lunch, and then study for another three, before deeming that they’ve been productive enough, and Louis manages to convince Harry to do some christmas shopping with him.  
  
  
Shopping for Niall is easy, as Zayn has sent him Niall’s wish list.  
He buys a CD he wants and a t-shirt from one of Niall’s favorite clothing stores, taking a picture and sending to Zayn for his approval, before purchasing it.  
  
  
Finding something for Zayn proves to be a lot harder, as Zayn says he doesn’t wish for _anything special, really_ , leaving Louis to come up with something cool all on his own.  
  
They roam several stores, aimlessly going through them to try and find _something_ that’ll catch his eye, and instantly make him think of Zayn.  
They walk around for over an hour and it only leaves them physically and mentally tired, so Harry finally grabs Louis’ wrist and drags him to a stop.  
  
“Okay, this is pointless. Like, what does he like? Hobbies or something? We need something to go by!”  
  
“Well, I- Uh, okay. He likes to watch series and movies and stuff? And maybe comics, I guess,  he reads them sometimes. He has a lot of reading with his schoolwork though, so I don’t know if he reads it occasionally because he’s not that into it, or because he doesn’t have time for more.”  
  
“Right, okay, I know a store we can go to. Maybe you can ask Niall, like, about how into comics he is?”  
  
“Yes, good idea. I need sugar, can we have some sugar before we go anywhere else?”  
  
  
  
After the consumption of two delicious, melted chocolate-centered muffins and an answer from Niall - _yes he’s mad about them, that’s a great tip thanks_ to which Louis kindly responded _fuck you no you don’t_ \- they leave the warmth of the mall to trudge through the freezing wind in search of the store that Harry is kinda-almost sure he knows where is.  
  
When they finally get there - after only one wrong turn, Harry proudly exclaims, and Louis bites back that they followed that wrong turn for almost ten minutes - it does turn out to be the perfect store.  
  
Forbidden Planet is a two story comic book store, featuring dvd’s, books and merch from everything from Adventure Time to Star Wars, to right around a million different types of anime, and if Louis doesn’t find anything here, he might as well give up all together.  
  
There’s a Marvel corner in the back, t-shirts and posters on the walls, so Louis heads there, examining the few things they have that are at a reasonable price.  
  
He doesn’t know what Zayn already has when it comes to the different comic books and dvd’s, so he thinks those are pretty much ruled out.  
Posters are one option, they don’t have any in their room, and he knows there’s none in Zayn’s bedroom at his parents house either - well, he’s never seen anything comic book-related there at all really, but whether that’s because he doesn’t have much or because he’s one of those maniacs who keeps everything neatly stashed in plastic bags in boxes under his bed and only touches them with white gloves once a year, well.  
Maybe a t-shirt is a better idea.  
  
Except, well, they’re kinda expensive, at least the ones that aren’t completely basic designs.  
Louis could probably find a cheaper one online, but then he’ll have no idea what quality would be, and he doesn’t want to get him something that gets ruined in the wash.    
  
He sighs, running a hand over his face.  
  
“This one’s pretty cool.” Harry says, holding up a statue of cartoon Batman and Joker in the middle of a fight. “It’s a piggy bank as well.” He says, turning it around to show Louis the slot in Batman’s back.  
  
“Yeah, it‘s great.” He agrees as Harry hands it over.  
  
It’s made of porcelain or ceramic or something, not plastic at least, which definitely ups it’s coolness.  
And price.  
Thirty-seven quid.  
  
 “Too expensive though.” He says putting it back on the shelf. It’s so typical, when he finally finds something he likes, something _Zayn_ would like, he can’t afford it.  
  
“Well, how much are you thinking of spending?”  
  
“I dunno, around twenty-five maybe. Certainly not above thirty.” He’d rather stick closer to twenty to be honest, but he doesn’t want to seem cheap. Or poor.  
  
“Alright, well, how about I pay the rest? And the gift could be from the both of us? We can find something extra for Niall as well, and something for Liam and Millie, so they‘re all from the both of us!”  
  
“That’s.. Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Louis says nodding. It also adds two more people to his gift list, well he was contemplating buying something small for Millie, but now he’s gonna have to make another big dent in his tiny budget.  
  
  
They find a pack of three guitar picks for Niall, they are adorned with the basic logo of Batman, Spiderman and Superman respectively, and a game for Liam’s PS3 that Harry knows he wanted, and then they head to the check out, paying half each.  
  
  
There’s a big children’s store about a block down, and their bus home stops right by it, so they head there, Harry calling his mum on the way to let her know they’ll be home within an hour.  
  
“She needs bath toys.” Harry says, trying to locate the section, before giving up and asking an employee.  
  
Since Louis paid most of Niall’s gift, Harry pays for Millie’s, to even it out, and they leave the store with bath crayons, a bath book and some singing seals.  
Louis not really sure who’s gonna love that gift the most - Millie or Harry - as he listens to him excitedly talk about how much he looks forward to giving her a bath after christmas.    
  
  
It’s later that evening, when he’s curled up next to Harry, a cup of manly sex-tea in his hands, that he gets a text from Zayn saying he and Niall will be there for dinner the next day.  
  
  
  
They spend Sunday morning baking sugar cookies, cut out in the shapes of tiny santa hats, reindeers and snowmen.  
  
Well, Harry makes the dough while Louis makes tea and sandwiches, and then they eat breakfast before they cut out and bake them.  
  
When they’re all cooled down and ready to eat, Anne suggests that they melt some white and milk chocolate to dip the cookies in, adding some red food coloring for half of the white one.  
It’s messy, melted chocolate sticking to their fingers and the counter, and the cookies doesn’t look particularly nice, but they taste heavenly, and they eat at six each before Anne scoots them away, hiding the cookies for after dinner.  
  
  
  
Zayn is actually on his very best behavior during dinner.  
He’s polite to everyone, though he usually is, well kinda anyway, but he actually engages Liam in conversation, sitting next to him at the dinner table even.  
  
It’s surprising, to say the least, and all the boys exchange baffled looks with each other, but Zayn completely ignores them all and just pretends that this is nothing out of ordinary.  
  
It’s nice though, to see him act the way he usually does around him and Niall.  
  
Anne has made two lasagnas, it has the perfect amount of meat and cheese, and over half of one is left by the time they’re all stuffed, so Anne gives Niall a third of it, and him and Zayn the rest.  
  
After packing his stuff and kissing Harry thoroughly goodbye, they drive back to their dorms.  
Louis is absolutely itching to grill Zayn about why he’s made a one-eighty when it comes to Liam, but he knows better than to ask.  
If there’s one thing he’s learned about Zayn, it’s that he will talk when he’s ready to,  
and any amount of pushing him will just make him hold back longer.  
  
  
  
  
  
It’s the last Monday with normal classes before christmas break, and they discuss the pros and cons of surgery during social species studies.  
  
Louis is paired with two other hybrids and one human, and they all have pretty loud opinions.  
He decides to keep his own close to heart.  
  
They don’t even notice that he’s silent, simply discussing among each other why they would never take surgeries to try and look like the other species, one of the hybrids going as far as saying that if he were recommended to change something about his appearance for health reasons, he would hesitate to do so.  
  
Louis is honestly surprised that the human doesn’t leave the room crying, with the way they’re downgrading everything that’s different about the human body, but she simply shrugs it off, agreeing that she thinks hybrids are absolutely beautiful, but that she’d never go to lengths as extreme as transforming herself into one.  
  
  
When the class is over, Louis packs up his things and heads towards the door when the teacher calls his name, asking if has a minute.  
  
He turns to Niall, holding up two fingers, and Niall nods, walking out of the classroom to wait for him.  
  
  
“Please sit.” Mrs. Hyle says kindly. Louis does as told, dropping his backpack on the floor next to the chair.  
She’s probably just gonna ask him how he thinks the class is so far, stuff like that, since he’s still new and all, so he’s not too worried.  
  
He _would_ like to get home and finish his last paper before work though.  
  
“I noticed you stayed very quiet in class today.” She says, which kinda makes his head snap up a little too fast to look at her.  
  
“I. Um. I mean, the others had a lot to say so.” He cuts himself of with a shrug. To be honest, he didn’t know they were required to talk during the group discussions.  
  
“Alright.” She agrees before clearing her throat, taking a deep breath.  
“Well, this is not really protocol, Louis, and you are free to leave or tell me off at any point, it will not affect anything to do with this class, but I really want to have a chat with you.” She looks at Louis till he nods in agreement, before continuing.  
  
“I remember in that paper you wrote, when you started this class, you mentioned that you wanted to take surgeries at a later point in life. Which is why I was surprised you didn’t contribute today, when the rest of your group seemed very opposed to it.”  
  
“Well, I mean, we’re all entitled to our opinions.. and I didn’t really wanna start an argument.”  
  
“Okay, well, I understand that. And I assume you haven’t changed your opinion?” Louis shakes his head no. “Okay. The reason I wanted to bring this up now, is because it’s our last class before holidays, and I figured with, you know, christmas and presents and all, in case you could afford surgery in the near future - I wanted to talk to you before you’d go ahead and do something.”  
  
“Um. Okay..?” He knows the confusion is clear on his face and in his voice, but, like, isn’t his personal choices his own? Like, isn’t this a bit-  
  
“Again, if I’m overstepping my boundaries here..”  
  
“No, it’s okay.” He says automatically, though he does feel a bit uncomfortable. “Um, I’m not gonna be able to afford anything in the near future, but like.”  
  
“Good. I don’t mean to patronize you Louis, but you are quite young, and I worry about how much research you’ve done when it comes to these kinds of surgeries. Now; I know there are a lot of good doctors out there who will explain every step of these kinda processes and be completely professional, _however_ ; I also know that those are very expensive, and that most people therefore chooses cheaper options.”  
  
Well, Louis know this too.  
  
It’s under the category of plastic surgery, and is therefore not covered by the state, and mostly only done by private doctors.  
He’d get the best ones, if he could afford it, if he _can_ someday in the future, but if not, well, yeah, he’d consider those cheaper options.  
  
“I actually used to work as a counselor at a rehab center for people who had gone through with surgeries like that; finding a cheap doctor because it was the only thing they could afford, and then have to struggle with the consequences for the rest of their lives.”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
“Listen, I’m not trying to scare you, or tell you what to do, okay? But I just want to prepare you. You need to do proper research and you need to find a proper doctor and clinic, okay? And that’s not always easy, there’s a lot of false information out there.”  
  
“Okay, yeah. I mean, I know about some stuff, I’ve researched a bit. But like, it’s not gonna happen for a while anyway, I don’t wanna be in debt and stuff.”  
  
“That’s good! I’m glad you have a mature look at this, at least.” She says, and she seems to relax a bit. “If you have any questions, at all, don’t be afraid to ask, okay?”  
  
And that’s probably his cue to leave, but  
  
“Like, what kinda consequences though? I know about the balance issue and stuff, but..” He feels a bit stupid for asking, but she smiles at him though, doesn’t seem to  
mind at all.  
  
“Well, obviously, it depends on what you do. Removing your ears are probably the least risky one, though it can affect your hearing, and also increase the risk of ear-infections and such.  
Having human-ear prosthetics put in, however, can leave you with several issues - both with where they’re placed, how they sit, infections if it’s not done properly or with proper equipment - I’ve seen it all.” She says with a frown, and Louis can’t stop his ears from twitching. Her eyes track the movement.  
  
“With both the ears and tail you lose one of your main ways to communicate and show emotions as well. It may seem weird, but a lot of people actually experience emotional trauma and confusion because of it, quite a few people gets depressed after those surgeries, just because they feel like they can’t express themselves anymore.  
  
Another things that’s common is phantom pains; your nerve endings still tells you that they’re there, so like, it can itch, ache, some even get really bad stabbing pains, and painkillers doesn’t always help.”  
  
“Oh, I didn’t - well, I mean, I’ve heard of phantom pains before, but I thought it was more like a sensation or discomfort or something.”  
  
“Yeah, but that’s a more permanent thing, the discomfort when you sit or even when wearing human clothes.  
There can also be things like forgetting to mentally wrap your non-existent tail around your body before you close a door, and feeling the pain as if you’ve actually pinched it in the door.”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
  
“You know, they only talk about the balance, really, because it’s hard to hide, and it’s the only proved affect we see in other animals as well.” She sighs, the tip of her tail flicking with irritation, her eyes a bit darker.    
“However, with the balance they don’t mention that you can struggle with being dizzy or nauseous all the time, how it strains on the muscles in your feet and ankles, even your knees!  Or how almost ninety percent of tail-removal patients suffer from back problems - all the way from the lumbar to the neck - after only a few years because of the strain they put on the spine.”  
  
Louis frowns, his eyes falling to his lap.  
  
He didn’t know any of those, the only consequences he knew about was that it could give you osteoarthritis, and like, make you fall over a bit.  
And that you might need to relearn how to ride a bike.  
  
That seems pretty insignificant now though.  
  
  
“The teeth are actually one of the biggest problems.” Mrs. Hyle continues with a sigh. “Just because a lot of people file them down themselves, or have dentists with no hybrid education take care of it, and they don’t know where the nerves are, and therefore files them down as well, which will leave you with a very bad cold and heat sensitivity, problems with chewing hard food and in some cases even constant toothache, and the only solution is the pull them out.”  
  
Louis traces his right fang with his tongue, yeah, he definitely doesn’t want that to happen, it looks weird, and he’s heard that the gums are super sensitive, and you can’t eat hard food at all.  
  
“But can it be done professionally though?” He wonders out loud, it’s mostly because he’s curious, he’s certain he’s seen hybrids with filed down teeth before.  
  
“Yeah, but it’s a bit complicated, and they can’t file down much of it. Not to mention the cost-” His phone buzzes in his pocket, and he pulls it out to ignore the incoming call when she speaks up again.    
“You’re free to go, I’ve said my part, I think.”  
  
“Yeah, alright, um, thank you.” He presser the answer button so that Harry wont hang up - he _could_ just call him up again, but he wants to keep his phone bill to a minimum.  
  
“No worries. Happy holidays, Louis.”  
  
“Hello?” Harry says confused.  
  
“Merry christmas, yeah.” Louis replies before grabbing his bag, phone already at his ear before he’s out the door.  
  
  
“Hi babe!”  
  
“Me?” Louis snorts.  
  
“Yes, you. I don’t usually call my teachers _babe_.” A quick scan of the hallway tells him Niall left without him, so he starts walking back to his dorm.  
  
“Ah, everything okay? Exam stuff, or?”  
  
“Um, no. It’s a new teacher actually, I switched my extra credits class. Did I not tell you?”  
  
“Mh, I think you mentioned you were going to, but that’s all. What did you switch to?”    
  
“Social species studies, it was the only open one.”  
  
“Do you like it?”  
  
“It’s fine. What’s up?” It’s an obvious change of topic, and they both know it, but Harry goes with it.  
  
“Just having a quick study break. I was just wondering, like, Zayn seemed a bit different last night..?”  
  
“Yeah, I have no idea why though, he hasn’t talked to me about it.”  
  
“Oh, okay. Liam, um, he was a bit confused about it, so. Thought I’d ask if you knew anything.”  
  
“Yeah, no, I dunno if it was another one of his mood swings or if he’s actually getting his act together. But like, the way he was yesterday is how he usually is.”  
  
“Oh. Well now I see why you actually like the guy.” Louis laughs, ignoring the passing group of girls who stare at him.  
  
“Mean. But true though. Let’s just hope he keeps it up.” There’s a distant ding, and Harry sighs.  
  
“Time’s up, back to revision. Call me on the way home from work?”  
  
“Yeah, have fun studying.” Harry groans. “Love you.”  
  
“Yeah, you too.”  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Zayn cracks on the night of the fifteenth.  
Well, it’s technically the sixteenth, as it’s way past midnight, but, details.  
  
  
They’ve both had exams, and while Zayn went out for a celebratory dinner and drinks with some friends, Louis spent the day studying for his next exam and eating a _delicious_ dinner of noodles with canned bean sprouts and water chestnuts, before going to work, munching cookies on the way there.  
  
He goes to bed as soon as he gets home, wallowing in the fact that he’s been an involuntary vegetarian for the past three days, and he’s already starting to get sick of sweet, sugary food, and he just really wants a steak.  
  
  
He’s asleep when Zayn stumbles in, waking him up with tons of annoying noises, and Louis is going to ignore him, pretend he’s sleeping till he actually falls asleep again, but Zayn has other plans though.  
  
“Louis? Louis? Louis?! Louis!” He all but whisper-yells, before he turns on the lights.  
  
Louis sighs, he has to get up bright and early tomorrow to study at the library, and he really needs the few hours of sleep he can afford.  
  
“Look!” He says, walking over to Louis’ bed, practically shoving a plastic bag in his face before he pulls something out of it.  
   
It’s a dark grey woolen coat, with small red bows over the hidden buttons, and a black lace trimming around the waist as a belt.  
There’s also a small lamb embroidered down by the hem on the right side, which Louis knows means it’s bought at _Little Lamb_ , a very expensive children clothes store.  
  
“Isn’t it pretty? It’s perfect for her!” Zayn says as he turns it around, showing Louis the black bow in the middle of the back.  
  
“How much did you spend on that?” He asks, rubbing at his eyes.  
  
“It was on sale..”  
  
“How much?”  
  
“Eighty.. But originally it was like a hundred and twenty!” He says defensively. It must be nice being that rich, well having parents who are that rich, and generous.  
Louis’ probably not spending that much on all of his sisters combined.  
  
“You know it’ll only fit for like, a few months, right?”  
  
“But our next girl can inherit it! See, I’ve thought this through!” He puts his index finger in Louis’ face and waves it around a bit, presumably to make the point clearer.  
  
“Right. So you’re gonna raise kids with Liam then?” Louis ask, leaning up on his elbows, suddenly feeling more awake. Zayn sighs and lays down by Louis‘ feet, the top of his head against he wall and Louis’ toes probably poking him uncomfortably in the side.  
  
“He’s so perfect.” He breathes out, spreading his arms so he’s star-fishing across Louis body and bed. “And Millie is so cute, Louis, she’s so adorable, even though she’s, like, malformed. That sounds rude. I say it with love.”  
  
“Off course you do.”  
  
“I just. I wanna have his babies, you know?”  
  
“Right.” Louis says as he sits up completely, reaching out to run his fingers through Zayn’s hair.  
  
  
“Do you think I’ve proper fucked it up with him?” Zayn asks after a moment, eyes closed and head pushing into Louis’ fingers.  
  
“I - Well, I’m not sure to be honest. Probably not, but he’s certainly gonna need some time.”  
  
“Yeah, shit, I shouldn’t have pretended to forget last time.” He sulks, and Louis pulls a bit harder on his hair.  
  
“Why did you?” He asks, instead of all the other things he wants to say, like _no you shouldn’t have_ or _you’re an idiot_ or _I fucking knew it_.  
  
“It’s scary.” Zayn mumbles, his eyes fluttering open, and even though he’s piss drunk and a bit sticky from sweat and probably some spilt drinks, disheveled really, he still manages to look all of five years old with his big, brown, sad eyes, flattened ears and the slight pout on his mouth.  
  
“Babe..” Louis sighs, stroking some of the hairs that has fallen from his quiff away from his forehead.  
  
“I’ve never been with a boy before, let alone a human. I know shit about how things work. And he’s - he’s just so cute and lovely and _adult_.”  
  
“He’s the same age us.” Louis says, though he know that’s not what Zayn is referring to.  
  
“Yeah, with a house and a car and a child.”  
  
“He _is_ looking for something serious. Like, he’s not gonna be up for games and shit. I think with Millie, like, he doesn’t want to introduce people to her unless they’re willing to stay you know?”  
  
“I wanna stay.” Zayn whispers, like it’s a big secret. Though, Louis supposes, it kinda  is.  
  
“Then let him know.” Louis says gently. Zayn sighs, but keeps quiet for so long that Louis is certain he falls asleep.  
  
He’s about to lay down again himself when Zayn starts mumbling.  
  
“Human offered to blow me, said no, want Liam to blow first.” He slurs, and Louis tries his best to hold back a laugh.  
  
“How romantic.” He says, though Zayn clearly doesn’t pick up on the sarcasm, just nods with a pleased smile on his face until he drifts off.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The eighteenth arrives quicker than he’d liked.  
  
He’s really excited about christmas and getting time off, and seeing Harry, but he doesn’t feel at all ready for the exam, especially not since he spent over an hour skyping Harry yesterday instead of studying like he desperately needed to.  
  
Well it was their anniversary though, so he can‘t really find it in his heart to regret it.  
  
  
Louis hadn’t originally put anything in the calendar for the day, seeing as he was gonna give him the flowers.    
However he knew that if there was nothing, Harry would figure out that Louis had something else planned, so last time he went to see him he brought a large candy bar with him, gift-wrapped with ‘ _17_ ’ written on, and hung it up on the calendar rack.    
  
It was a bit mean, perhaps, to let Harry believe that Louis forgot it was their anniversary, but when he received a text a little after one saying ‘ _!!!!!!! Love you, you idiot!! Skype me around 3_ ’ he decided it was definitely worth it.  
  
  
Though Louis was rather pleased with the flowers, Harry’s gift was better; A small box filled with various candies and a few other things, each one with a note with a stupid, but endearing, pun attached.  
The best part though, was the card, where among other things, Harry had written _I love you_ , even though at the time, they hadn’t told each other yet.  
  
So, they skyped for a long time, talking about their relationship and anniversary, but also about all the stress they were dealing with and how they couldn’t wait for it all to be over.  
And then they may or may not have dealt with said stress by a long wank together, getting relaxed and clearheaded for a new study session.  
  
  
  
All in all, the exams goes okay.  
It could’ve been better, he knows he was lacking in the essay bit, and he probably didn’t elaborate enough on the question bit, but it’s too late now anyway, so.  
  
  
It’s nearly four when he’s finished, and his bus leaves around five, and he hasn’t exactly had any time to pack his stuff, and since it’s so close to the holidays he had to book a seat on the bus, so he can’t loose it.  
  
He’s a bit frantic as he tries to remember everything he needs, the mental list he’s been working on completely forgotten.  
The presents are the most important though, so as long as he remembers those, the rest is replaceable.  
  
  
He’s already exchanged his gifts with Niall and Zayn, gotten two in return, one Christmas gift and one birthday gift that they bought together, and he only has the gift for Harry himself, as he’s going to buy everything for his family either today or tomorrow, depending on what’s most convenient for Harry.  
  
  
He almost misses the bus because he’s busy hugging Zayn goodbye.  
  
They haven’t talked properly since Zayns drunken night, both of them being far to busy with school and whatnot, but when Louis carefully asks if Zayn wants him to take the gift for Millie with him, he shakes his head with a small smile.  
  
“I wanna give them the gifts myself.” He says, looking a bit bashful, “Between christmas and new years some time. Have a proper talk with him, you know..”,    
  
Louis doesn’t say he’s proud of him, but he’s pretty sure it’s evident in his smile.  
Instead, he kisses his cheek and pulls him in for a long, tight hug.  
  
“I’ll let you know when I go back to Harry’s, yeah? Maybe we’ll all do new years together or something?” Zayn nods against his shoulder, and they stay there for another minute or so, until Louis realizes he has a bus to catch, and literally runs of.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Harry is boring, studying for his last exam, and Louis should give him space or help him or something, but he’s done with school this year, and he doesn’t want to.  
  
Also, he’s kinda horny.  
  
And bored.  
  
And he’s had like two cups of tea and he’s pretended to help Anne making dinner, and they’ve eaten, but Harry was so distracted and ate in a hurry and left back upstairs to study some more.  
  
And Louis is just so fucking _bored_.  
  
He wants to be a good boyfriend though, and not distract him, so he tries his very best to enjoy the christmas movie Anne is watching, but it’s not working, and eventually he gives up.  
  
He’ll just sit upstairs with Harry, is all. Read something, or play around with Harry’s computer, or maybe he can find some new game to get hooked on.  
  
He might even consider helping Harry.  
  
  
So he halfway stomps up the stairs, body feeling heavy and pliant and kinda in the mood for a good cuddle, actually.  
Maybe Harry will spoon him while he studies?  
  
Probably not.  
  
  
  
Like, he’s bored, and Harry’s busy,  and, okay, so maybe looking through the photos on his phone was a bad idea, because he kinda forgot that he hadn’t deleted those photos Harry sent him over snapchat a few weeks back.  
  
Well, off course he had to save them, since Harry decided to send pictures of himself having a wank when Louis was still in class.  
It’s not like he could let the pictures disappear forever without them.. _serving their purpose._  
  
  
So, okay, bad idea, but now that he’s already looking… well.  
He wonders how far he’ll be able to go before Harry notices, is all.  
  
His body makes the decision for him, as he pulls up his sweater, lets his hand trace the soft skin of his stomach, down the trail of hair from his navel to the edge of his pants, and back up.  
It’s arousing, really, just thinking about getting off while Harry’s in the same room, oblivious.  
  
Maybe he can even finish unnoticed.  
  
He palms himself over his sweatpants for a while, bites at his bottom lip and makes sure to keep his breathing even as he gets hard.  
  
Harry is writing down keywords, back and shoulders hunched, right arm moving back and forth, and if Louis tilts his head just slightly to the left, obscures his view a bit, it looks like Harry’s doing something else entirely.  
  
He grabs his phone again to look at the photo, combines it with his current view and bites back a soft moan.  
  
He’s starting to feel warm all over, too warm, so he pulls down his pants and undies as quietly as he can, revels in the air that hits him, and rucks up his sweater even more before he lies back down again.  
  
Harry doesn’t seem to notice at all.  
  
  
He contemplates what to do next, doesn’t want to start wanking properly, because he’s sure Harry will hear the slick sound, so instead he just drags the pads of his fingers up and down the shaft.  
It makes him shiver in a pleasurable way, but it’s not nearly enough to come.  
  
He teases himself for a while before he can’t help himself anymore, rubs his palm over the head and circles his fingers and slides his hand down.  
It’s a bit rough, but it’s good, especially after the almost tickling sensation before, and he moves slowly, grip tight, still trying not to be heard.  
  
His breath is a bit harsher now, but Harry still seems completely clueless, Louis keeps his eyes on him at all times, the photos forgotten.  
  
  
He panics for a second, whips his head around, but he _did_ remember to close the bedroom door, and Anne always knocks before she enters.  
  
  
“Louis?” Harry asks, and Louis’ sure he’s been caught, but when he looks, he’s faced with the back of Harry’s head like before.  
  
“Mh?” It’s a bit breathless, but he doesn’t really care, just bites his lip, spreads his legs apart, starts up the slow pace of his hand again.  
  
“Could you help me wi-” Harry cuts himself off as he turns, his mouth still half open around the word.  “Uh.”  
  
“I was bored.” Louis says. “Didn’t want to disrupt you.” He spreads his legs even further apart, bites at the corner of his lip the way he knows Harry likes.  
  
“Uh.” Harry responds, eyes following the movement of his hand; up and down and up and twist and down.  
  
  
“What was it that you needed help with?” Louis asks after a moment. He lets go of his cock and sits up, Indian style.  
When Harry doesn’t respond he grabs the notebook hanging loosely in his grip. It’s just a long list of words, so he picks one at random and says it out loud.  
  
“Um, it’s like. It‘s when, um - fuck it.” Harry’s off his chair in seconds, crawling up the bed and pushing Louis down on his back. Louis tsks.  
  
“You’re not gonna get anything done like this.” He says, trying not to rut up against him like he wants to.  
  
“You’re distracting.” Harry says, pressing kisses to his shoulder, neck, jaw, mouth.  
  
“I can leave..” Louis says against his lips, Harry huffs, slots his bottom lip in between Louis’ and rolls his hips down. Louis arches into it, eyes fluttering closed. “or not.” He concludes, kissing back.  
  
  
It’s quick and messy and rough, the both of them in Harry’s warm hand, rubbing together, while they try to kiss. but end up just panting and occasionally licking into each other, and it’s perfect, really.  
  
Louis comes first, rides his high for a moment, before he rakes his nails down Harry’s back, kiss and bite at his neck, while he’s still rutting up against him to provide Harry the friction he knows he wants.  
  
It’s with slight hesitation that he wraps his tail around Harry’s upper thigh, lets the tip dip in between his legs, close to his balls, and Harry arches at the feeling and comes over Louis’ stomach with a groan.  
  
“I love you.” He says into Louis’ shoulder, once his breath is almost back to normal, and Louis smiles, rakes a hand through his hair and tightens the ring of his tail and whispers I love you back.  
  
  
  
  
  
Louis feels rich, now that he’s gotten his paycheck. It’s a good feeling.  
  
It’s a bit dangerous as well though, because he spends more than he probably should. But, with the month he’s had, he thinks he’s allowed to spoil himself, and Harry, and his family, just a bit.  
  
So they have lunch, followed by a shared desert, and they buy the rest of the christmas presents, and a little extra as well, and then they figure why not, and go to see a movie.    
  
  
When they get back, it’s almost five, and they barely manage to eat any of the dinner Anne has made, because they’re still full from the popcorn and candy they had at the cinema.  
  
They go to Harry’s room after, even though it’s still early, and Harry puts on some christmas music, and then they just lay together in bed, talking and kissing and cuddling.  
  
  
Louis is going back home tomorrow morning, and it’s bittersweet.  
  
He wants to stay with Harry, wants him there for christmas, on his birthday, but he needs to go home and see his family.  
And he’s looking forward to it, he really is, but he’s gonna miss Harry a lot.  
  
He’s still mad at himself. Mad that he let things get to his head, mad that he acted like a proper idiot, that he didn’t see Harry more at the beginning of the semester, when he had more time.  
  
  
But at least he’s coming back here for new years, and school doesn’t start up again until the thirteenth, so he fully plans on staying with Harry till then. He has a couple of days of work, but he’ll just take the bus up for that, and come right back to Harry after.  
  
  
“Baaabe..” Louis turns his head to find Harry watching him, his eyebrows drawn slightly together.  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“What’s on your mind?” Louis smiles, kisses his cheekbone.  
  
“Nothing, just thinking.” He says, and Harry twists his mouth to the side, but eventually accepts the answer and nuzzles into his neck.  
  
  
“Hey, um, how’s Millie? Didn’t she have that checkup?”  
  
“Yeah. She’s good. Like, everything is growing the way it’s supposed to and stuff, so.”  
  
“Is she- Like, when she gets older, is she gonna have like loads of trouble because of what happened to her? Like do you know?” He feels a bit stupid for asking, nervous almost, but after that conversation with Mrs. Hyle, all the consequences that she told him about-  
  
“They’re not really sure. Like, her balance will probably be fine, since she’ll be used to it from the get go. But like her muscles and stuff are made for her to walk more on her toes, and so it could potentially be damaging. But like, they don’t really know how much she’ll be affected, so they’ll have to check up on her, you know, as she grows.” Louis nods, starts running his fingers through Harry’s hair to ensure that he stays where he is, face hidden.  
  
“Mrs. Hyle - she’s my social species studies teacher - she told me a bit about, like, what risks there are with, um, certain surgeries and stuff? Like how you’re more likely to get ear infections, or how you can get like bad ankles and a bad back like with the tail gone. And get nauseous. Things like that.”  
  
“Yeah, they’ve mentioned it to Liam too. Like, Millie needs to wear hats all the time in the winter, even inside. And they recommended him to get her into, like, classes to make her walk like a hybrid. And, maybe some dancing classes too, like to strengthen her ankles, but she can’t dance professionally though, cause that’ll only make it worse.”  
  
“Cause she’ll imitate Liam’s walk? Since she doesn’t need the balance?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
  
Louis hums, keeps playing with Harry’s hair, thinking.  
He hasn’t really been able to _stop_ thinking about it all - about the surgeries.  
  
He thinks, he’s grown more into his body, doesn’t loathe it the way he used to. Doesn’t love it either, far from, but it helps being around other hybrids, not getting called a freak and a beast on a daily basis.  
  
It helps that he has Zayn, who’s confident and beautiful, who embraces it all. Zayn who used to think humans were kinda ugly, and who’s now falling for one.  
Zayn, who though Louis was as weird for loving the human body, as Louis though _he_ was for loving the hybrid one.  
  
  
Harry helps as well, loves him in a way he never thought possible, and Louis thinks, _maybe_ , with Harry by his side, he can live with it, can grow more into his body.    
  
He remember Zayn asked him once _what if Harry became a hybrid? Would you still love him?_ and at the time he said, _yes, but I would never be attracted to him. It wouldn’t work._  
But Harry - Harry is Harry. He’s beautiful inside-out, and he’d still be, even if he had a furry tail and large, pointy ears.  
  
  
“Do you still want to do it? The surgeries?” Harry asks quietly, like he’s afraid of Louis’ reaction. Or maybe his answer.  
  
He would. He would if it didn’t cost that much, or if there weren’t so many risks. But it does, and there is, and he’s not really sure if it’s worth it.  
He has a family that loves him, and a Harry that loves him, so what would he risk it _for_?  
  
“I’m not sure,” He breathes.  
  
  
He used to think that if he did it, modified himself to look human, then Harry and him could be together forever, that it would be right.  
  
But he’s realized that changing his appearance wont make him more human, wont change his genetics.  
  
He’s still not sure if a human and a hybrid can truly be meant to be, if crossing species like that is wrong or if it’s natural.  
  
  
“We’ll talk about it again when we can afford it, then.” Harry concludes, pressing a soft kiss to Louis’ neck.  
  
“Do you really think we’ll still be together then?” Louis asks carefully, and Harry pulls out from his neck to look into his eyes.  
  
“Yes.” He says, not a single trace of doubt.  
  
Louis wonders if something wrong really can feel this right.    
  
  
  
  
  


The days passes in a blur back home.  
  
He loves playing around with the girls, helping the twins wrap their gifts for his parents and other sisters, helping his mum bake more christmas cookies, watching telly with the girls again - it all feels relaxing, and familiar, and like home.  
  
The furthest he goes is into the back garden with the twins and Fizzy, making snow angels and snowmen and a lantern made of snowballs with a tealight inside, while Lottie and his mum whips up a meal of hot cocoa and fresh homemade bread rolls.  
  
  
Everyone just seems so jolly, so happy, and it’s good, because Louis feels like he really fits in with them in a way he didn‘t before; he’s happy too.  
  
  
He nearly fucks up once, the first day, when he craves popcorn _so_ bad, and remembers that he can afford it now.  
He’s already got one shoe on when he it hits him - he’s home now, with his loving family, but in a hateful town, and he can’t walk outside alone, let alone got to the store.  
  
A flashback of last time, with Harry, flicks through his mind, and it makes a shiver run down his spine.  
He feels so different now, from back then, not the scared little animal with it’s tail between it’s feet.  
  
But he’s not an idiot though, so he slips his shoe back off and drags his feet back into the kitchen, though he‘s not craving anything edible anymore.  
  
  
His mum must’ve watched him, caught on, because she sends him a sympathetic look from where she’s emptying the dishwasher.  
  
“If you want anything from the store, add it to the list on the fridge, yeah?” Her voice is gentle, and Louis gives her a small smile, nods, has never felt more like a prisoner in this house before.  
  
He writes _buttery popcorn_ on the list, asks her if she needs help with anything.  
  
“Get the bath running for the twins, will you? Last time they tried themselves the water was scalding and there was bubbles flowing out into the hall.”  
  
  
  
It’s a nice way to spend the days; eating every meal together, playing and talking with all the girls, reading books in front of the fireplace - he even does chores around the house without complaining; it’s not like he has much else to do anyway.  
  
He loves his family and his childhood home, he really does, but he misses his freedom.  
  
  
  
  
  


December twenty-fourth have never really been all that special to Louis.  
Sure, it’s his birthday, but they don’t make much out of it, haven’t for years now.  
  
When he was younger, he used to hate having his birthday the day before christmas, when everyone is busy with the holidays, and he couldn’t celebrate like the other children in his street or bring cupcakes with him to school like the kids in class.  
  
He soon learnt it was a blessing rather than a curse though.  
  
  
The year he turned nine, the doorbell rang on his birthday.  
  
Louis got excited, thought maybe someone had come to see him - it was _his_ special day after all - and ran to open the door.  
  
It was three boys from down the street, smiling at him as they yelled _Happy Birthday Louis!_ , and Louis can still remember how his heart tugged, how his eyes burned with tears of joy, how his cheeks hurt from the smile that took over his face - how the cold clung to his bones for days after being pelted with snowballs from all directions.  
  
  
He was so caught off guard he didn’t even move, just stood there as the hard snow slammed into his face, arms, stomach, thighs - his tail instinctively hidden between his legs and his ears flat and the tears down his cheeks not so much from joy anymore.  
  
Seemingly all the kids in the neighborhood had gathered for this, brought their younger and elder siblings and hidden behind bushes and the walls of his house.    
  
  
He doesn’t remember much else, just that his face was swollen and his body red and sore for hours, that he cried himself to sleep.  
That it was the first time in his life he wished he didn’t exist anymore.  
  
He’s been banned from opening the door on his birthday ever since,  
  
  
  
For the past nine-ten years his birthday routine has been the same;  
  
They have a big breakfast together, chocolate chip pancakes with all the sweet toppings one can imagine, the same birthday-breakfast they have on all the birthdays in the Tomlinson house.  
  
Louis gets to choose whatever he wants for dinner, and then they remove all the christmas ornaments in their dining room, blow up some balloons, make everyone wear party hats, and eat dinner, followed by a chocolate cake and a the birthday song and a few presents from the girls and something small from his parents, since they usually give him a, extra expensive, combined present for christmas.  
  
When the cake is eaten and the presents opened, they get the little ones ready for bed before they all cuddle up to watch a non-christmas related movie the girls have chosen, and hope that they’ll stay awake for as long as possible, so that they wont demand the whole household to get up at five am on christmas morning.  
  
  
  
  
It’s nearing lunch when the doorbell rings.  
  
Louis bites the inside of his cheek, determined to ignore the neighbors trying to ruin his birthday again.  
  
After all, they have tried again every year since.  
  
“Get out of here!” He hears his dad shout, like he always does, and then his mum turns on the radio loud enough to block whatever else is said or done, like _she_ always does.  
  
Louis simply ignores whatever small motion he can hear, makes himself concentrate on reading his book instead, until the music cuts off and his mum calls him up for lunch.  
  
  
  
He takes one step into the dining room, and then two back.  
  
He knows he’s staring, fish mouthing - looking exactly as gobsmacked as he is - because there, around the table, are Harry and Anne and Ma and Niall and Liam and Zayn with Millie in his arms.  
  
“I - what?” He mumbles, once he’s actually capable of speech, and they all shout  ‘Happy birthday!’ at him. Louis feels kinda numb.  
  
“What?” He says again, getting a chorus of laughter in return, and then Harry is practically leaping into his arms, hugging him tight.  
  
“As if I’d not see you on your birthday.” He says fondly, and gives him a chaste kiss that Louis returns three seconds too late.  
  
“But. It’s christmas eve.” He reminds them, like maybe they forgot.  
  
“We know love.” Anne says, smiling brightly, as she walks over to kiss his cheek. “Happy birthday.” Louis bites his lip, swallows against the tennis ball of a lump that has taken residence in his throat.  
  
He never thought anyone would give up their holiday traditions to celebrate him, so he’s pretty sure these people are the fucking best there is.  
  
He gets hugs and well-wishes from them all, before is mum have them sit around the table so she can bring out two plates with sandwiches that must’ve taken her forever to make.  
  
  
Louis is still in shock, so he remains mostly silent as his family asks how the trip was. The only thing that grounds him, and lets him believe for just a second that it’s not a dream, is Harry’s warm hand on his thigh.  
  
“How long are you staying tonight?” His dad is looking at Niall, as Louis blinks his way back out of the haze.  
  
“Not sure.” He replies, looking at Zayn. “We figured we’d drive during the night, just wanna be back when my cousins and his sisters gets up for the presents.”  
  
“Yeah.” Zayn agrees, shrugs. “It’s not biggie, we’ve pulled all-nighters before.”  
  
“I can’t believe you drove all the way up here, just for a day.” Louis says, which makes everyone except his sisters turn to look at him with incredibly sweet smiles.  
He looks down at his plate as he takes another bite of his sandwich, having never really been a fan of attention.  
  
“Actually.” His mum says, waiting to continue until he looks at her. “Zayn and Liam are leaving tonight to celebrate with their families, but we figured, since the rest of them would be celebrating together anyway.. They might as well stay, don’t you think?” Louis kinda drops his sandwich.  
  
“Harry’s staying?” Phoebe and Daisy shouts in unison.  
  
“I am.” Harry replies, making the twins chatting excitedly together. “If  you don’t mind.” He adds then, looking at Louis, who respond by rolling his eyes, hitting his arm and kissing the smile off his lips.  
  
  
  
He’s never been so happy about having a birthday in his life.  
  
Everyone makes a fuss about him; he’s placed in the armchair with Millie in his arms. a plate of cookies and a glass of milk next to him, and the telly showing a Harry Potter movie, while everyone else bustles to move mattresses and beds for the sleeping arrangement.  
  
He’s staying with Harry in his old - now Lottie’s new - bedroom, giving them privacy they will definitely need, Lottie and Fizzy are sleeping on the upstairs couch, so that Anne and Ma can have Fizzy’s room, while Liam and Millie gets the guestroom/ office.  
  
They all seem happy with the arrangements, though he’s pretty sure Lottie’s excitement is more for show.  
  
  
Louis is completely satisfied being treated like this though.  
Harry walks past him a few times, as he’s in charge of pillows and duvets, and he asks him if he needs anything each time, at witch Louis responds by tilting his head and pursing his lips.  
  
  
Louis gets up when Millie’s stomach rumbles, followed by a small explosion in the back area.  
  
He’s not too bothered with diaper changes, but just as he’s bending over the diaper bag to get everything he needs, Anne swoops by and takes the bag and the baby, pointing Louis towards the chair again.  
  
After twenty minutes or so without Anne coming back, Harry plops into his lap and tells him they’ve put Millie down for a nap, and Liam and Zayn are taking the kids out, and Harry’s been tasked to keep Louis company.  
  
They watch the movie for five minutes, snog for two, and then they giggly sneak their way downstairs, earning a snort and a ‘ _subtle_ ’ from where Zayn is standing down the hall.  
  
  
  
Dinner is great.  
  
Louis had requested this pasta dish with beef that his dad makes, thrown into the oven with tons of cheese on top, and it’s served with salad and white bread.  
He eats two portions and has to stop himself from eating more so he can at least have a tiny slice of cake.  
  
Frankly, everybody else seems equally thrilled by the meal as well, it has always been a family favorite, and he’s pleased to see that that also extends to Harry’s family.  
  
  
When the extra big chocolate cake is brought in, nineteen blue candles burning bright, the sound of the birthday song is louder than it’s ever been before, and Louis feels all warm and gooey on the inside - _special_ \- like he hasn’t felt for years.  
  
  
The presents are ..overwhelming.  
  
As usual he gets something small from his sisters, candy and woolen socks from the twins, a cozy hoodie from Lottie and Fizzy.  
His parents gives him a couple of t-shirts, saying that he’ll get his combined present tomorrow.    
  
Zayn and Niall informs him that the two gifts they gave him before they parted at uni are in fact both christmas presents, and produces another gift; this one big and rectangular and flat, and says it’s from them, Liam, Millie, Anne and Ma - with a little help from Zayn’s parents  
  
It’s a computer, a really good, really hi-tech, really expensive one made for hybrids - and he knows that Zayns dad is a co-owner of some stores that sells these, but still.    
Louis stares from it to them like five times before someone starts laughing at him and he belatedly gives his thanks.  
  
  
Harry gives him a computer sleeve - from a proper quality brand, one might add - that fits his new laptop. It looks like an old, worn book, and Louis absolutely loves it.  
It even has an extra pocket on the inside, for papers and such, and embroidered in the top left corner, right above the zipper for it, it says  
  
 _’Distance means so little when someone mean so much’_  
 _I love you x_  
  
Louis knows his eyes are a bit blank when he looks over at Harry, can feel everyone looking at him as says a silent thank you and kisses his cheek.  
  
  
  
It’s a bit of a struggle, fitting all of them in front of the sofa to watch Tangled.  
  
It’s crowded and half of them sit on someone else’s lap, but it’s also very cozy, lights dimmed down and a few candles lit and Harrys arms around his waist.  
  
Millie is already in bed before the movie starts, and the twins nod off within the first half, despite everyone trying to keep them awake.  
  
  
Everyone’s pretty tired when the movie is finished, and they collectively decide to get ready for bed when Zayn and Niall announce that they’re gonna head home.  
  
Normally the twins would be rather upset about not getting to say goodbye, but with all the excitement that will come tomorrow, Louis doubts they’ll even remember, so his parents carefully carries them upstairs and manage to put them both in bed without them stirring.  
  
Lottie and Fizzy both gets hugs, Lottie blushing furiously - though Louis can’t tell whether it’s Niall or Zayn that causes it - and then they’re off to brush their teeth.  
  
Millie starts whimpering in her sleep, which Louis and Zayn tells Liam simultaneously, so Liam heads up to soothe her before she wakes properly while the rest of them say goodbye.  
  
Anne and Ma hug them both tightly, and his parents follows suit, his mum saying a soft _thank you for coming_ which makes Louis’ stomach twist a bit - the fact that she knows how much this meant to him so clear in her voice.  
  
  
Louis and Harry chat with them for a while, just easy talk like what their plans are after christmas and how they were thinking they should come out to Harry’s for new years too.  
  
It takes five minutes or so for Liam to softly pad down the stairs, Millie presumably sleeping soundly again, and they all stay to talk a bit more.  
  
They figure it’s time to call it a night when Harry’s yawns are less than thirty seconds apart and Niall starts tugging at his scarf because it’s too warm inside.  
Liam and Zayn both hesitates a bit, so Niall says he’ll go start the car, and Louis unsubtly says that the bathroom is available so they should go get ready, and reminds Liam to lock the door, before they head down the hall to give the two some privacy.  
  
  
Well; physical privacy anyway, cause Louis can’t help but listen in. It’s not like he has to struggle to hear it anyway, he just doesn’t block it out.  
  
“Just, you know, thank you. For coming and all.” Liam says softly.  
  
“Yeah, course, it was fun. Nice seeing Millie again. Um, and you as well.”  
  
“You too Zayn.” Louis smiles to himself, which causes Harry to send him a judgmental look, though it’s not very affective; Louis simply puts a finger to his lips to tell Harry to remain quiet.  
  
“I’ll, um, I’ll see you around new years then?”  
  
“Yeah, that’d be nice.”  
  
There’s a moment of silence, and Louis can imagine them awkwardly not looking at each other, Zayn’s shoulders probably hunched, his ears twitching like they always do when he’s nervous.  
  
“I guess, um, Merry christmas, then?” Liam says finally.  
  
“Merry christmas Liam.” There’s another small pause, and Louis stretches on his toes to hear better - not that it has any affect on his hearing what so ever - picking up a faint _smack_ that can only be from a kiss, followed by what sounds like Liam going _Oh_.  
  
Louis spits into the sink, throws a grin towards Harry, who smiles unsurely back, and then listens as the door is closed and locked with a quiet click.  
  
  
When they go back out through the living room to pick up their phones, Louis sees he has a message from Zayn,  
  
 _I know you listened in you prying bastard. I only kissed him on the cheek no need to be a smug about shit. Hope you had a great day love you._  
  
and Louis texts him a ’ _Tsk tsk._ ’ and then waits until he’s cuddled up to Harry in bed to send another with the cutest smile emoji he has and a couple of hearts.  
  
  
  
  


Since Louis is the one with the hearing, Louis is also the one who has to get up with the twins when they wake up, as their excited chatters and shuffling awakens him anyway.  
  
There’s a new rule this year, the girls aren’t allowed to get out of bed until six am, at which point the blue lights around the rim of their clock turns pink, to let them know it’s officially morning.  
Millie cries around five though, so Louis only drifts in and out of sleep till he needs to get up.  
  
He gets out of bed five to six, pulling on pajama pants and a t-shirt that’s Harry’s, and has time for a wee before he meets them at the bottom of the stairs, sending them right back upstairs to use the bathroom and wash theirs hands and faces.  
  
The rest of the house is, as usual, granted another hour and a half of sleep, so Louis makes them bowls of cereal, and the three of them eat as they watch christmas cartoons with the volume down low.  
  
  
Harry comes up and join them around six thirty, his hair a mess and the bags under his eyes extra puffy, but he looks all kinds of adorable anyway. Louis has one girl tucked into each side, so Harry simply curls up in Louis’ lap, feet tucked under his thigh and the cold tip of his nose buried into his neck, as he whispers ‘ _the bed got cold without you_ ’.  
  
Louis kisses his head and lets him doze of on his lap for another thirty minutes before he sadly needs to get started on the breakfast.  
  
  
Harry offers to help him, so they leave the twins alone in the living room, sternly telling them not to squeeze too hard or make any holes in the wrapping paper, as the two of them slide off the couch and down to the mountain of presents underneath the tree.  
  
His mum made a huge bread dough a few days before, so Louis grabs half of it and rolls it out on the bench to divide into smaller baguettes.  
Other than that, he figures he’ll just put some spreads on the table, including the peanut butter and nutella that are only for Saturdays and special days, but then Harry insists on making scrambled eggs and sends Louis to dig through the freezer for some bacon.  
  
Liam comes down a few minutes later, while Louis is watching the bacon defrost in cold water, and hands Millie to him. He’s completely okay with sitting on the bench and bottle-feeding her while Liam and Harry putter about, making food and setting the table.  
  
  
When the rest comes downstairs, everyone in comfy pajamas or robes, the food is all done and Millie is fed and burped.  
She’s placed in a highchair at the corner of the table and, as Liam has just started to introduce her to more foods, she gets a chunk of apple in a rattle with a small net bag attached, so that she can safely get the taste and tiny pieces without there being any danger of getting something stuck in her throat.  
  
The twins eat quickly, then spend the rest of the meal bouncing in their seats because they know very well what comes up next.  
The rest of them try to hurry a bit as well, Fizzy and Lottie feigning nonchalance though it’s perfectly clear that they’re excited as well, and as soon as his dad - who always makes a show of eating incredibly slow - pops the last piece of bread in his mouth, the three youngest girls are gone.  
  
  
  
Opening presents take forever.  
  
Usually, their mum sits on a small chair in front of the tree and hands out the presents, one at a time, and everyone sit and watch to see what people get.  
But an hour and a half in, she finally realizes it’s a lost cause when it seems like they’ve barely gotten through half of them.  
  
It seems everyone has gotten presents for each other, and Louis is surprised, though he’s not sure if it was all planned or not.  
Harry has definitely had something to do with it though, as the things from the wish lists that Louis and his family didn’t buy for his sisters are still given them, only from Liam or Anne or Ma.  
  
  
Louis is absolutely shocked when he gets a new phone from his parents.  
  
Lottie get’s one too, which he knew about, seeing as he’d bought phone cases and a gift card to the app store for her, but _still_ , he did not see it coming.  
  
Liam has apparently known as well, as he and Lottie both get fancy new headsets for their phones, hers for humans and his for hybrids, and Lottie starts fiddling with hers immediately, while Louis just stares at it.  
New computer _and_ new phone. He has no idea what he did to deserve this.  
  
  
He gets a new hard disc from Harry, because his old one broke in the middle of exams and there was no way he could’ve afforded to replace it.  
  
“It’s not very romantic. Sorry.” Harry says, as if Louis is actually offended, and Louis just rolls his eyes at him and tells him to shut up.  
It’s not that his gift for Harry is any more romantic anyway; a woolen jacket that Harry’s been drooling over for months, but that he found way to expensive to buy himself.    
  
  
Liam’s face when he opens Millie’s gift from Zayn is absolutely priceless, and Louis sneakily takes a picture so he can show Zayn when he sees him around new years.  
  
The gift to _Liam_ from Zayn makes an even bigger impression though; turns out Zayn can draw more than those doodles he leaves around everywhere, and he’s drawn and framed four pictures - Spiderman, Batman, the Hulk and Captain America - in a complementary shadow-inspired series of sort that looks absolutely incredible.    
  
Furthermore, he’s gotten Louis and Harry framed drawings as well, these ones of themselves though, based off of photos he definitely recognizes, and Louis wonders how on earth he managed to draw all of this without him even noticing.  
  
  
In the end, they spend nearly three hours unwrapping, even if they tried to speed up the process, because they all wanna see what everyone got anyway.  
  
It’s a right mess of paper and ribbons and too many presents to keep in separate piles, and Louis can’t help but chuckle as his dad tries to write down what they all got, and from who, like his mum insists they do every year.  
  
  
When it’s all done, they spend some time just chatting and looking at each others stuff, before eventually gathering their things to bring to their rooms as the adults starts prepping for dinner.  
  
This year is the first, ever, where Louis is not the only one who get’s the least presents. Liam doesn’t look too upset about sharing that spot with him though.  
  
  
  


They don’t go to church during christmas, well at all really; Louis is not welcome there, and his parents didn’t want to start a tradition that didn’t involve him.  
  
Instead, as everyone is seated by the table, his dad reads the Gospel for them.  
  
They’re not a particularly religious family, but both his parents have grown up in religious homes and they do believe God exists, even if most of his followers thinks of Louis as nearly demonic.  
  
So they have their own little tradition, and it wouldn’t feel right to celebrate christmas without it. Their faith is between them and God, and the rest of the world can say whatever they please, it doesn’t matter.  
  
  


Dinner is loud and long and ends with nearly everyone moaning about having eaten to much.  
It’s just as it should be.  
  
Mum puts on some christmas music, and then she and Ma takes care of putting away the food and dishes, while the rest of them stretch out on whatever surface they can find till their tummies stop hurting.  
  
Louis ends up on the floor, Harry cuddling up to his left side, and Millie giggling as she halfway crawls and scoots her way around them, excited that she’s not the only one on the floor for once.  
  
It’s not entirely pleasant when she hits him in the stomach with a squeal, but he lets it pass, turns her around so that she spots some balled up wrapping paper and goes to play with that instead.  
  
  
When everyone has relaxed for a bit, it’s time for dessert.  
  
They all gather around the table, a couple of decks of Phase 10 and bowls of pudding and candy, and then they play for a good three hours, teaming up and cheating and just having a laugh, really.  
  
It’s Louis’ favorite christmas tradition to be honest, he loves how everyone is so competitive, yet no one really takes it seriously, and in the end whoever win shoves it into the others faces, as if they didn’t cheat their way there.  
  
This year it’s Fizzy who wins, having gotten loads of help from both Harry and dad, and she’s proper proud about it.  
Lottie complains about never winning, though Louis remembers very clearly that she did in fact win last year, and they contemplate starting another game, before realizing that it’s way past the twins bedtime.  
  
  
Once the twins are bathed and read to, and Millie is put to bed as well, the rest of them gather in front of the telly.  
It’s not long till Fizzy drops off, and Louis must follow suit, because the next thing he knows, he’s being scooped up into Harry’s arms.  
  
He doesn’t reveal that he’s awake though, just lets his body remain pliant as Harry carries him downstairs and places him on the bed.  
He blinks up at Harry then, and Harry smiles softly at him, kisses his forehead as he starts undressing him.  
  
“I can manage.” He mumbles, pushes Harry’s fingers away and slowly shrugs everything off - not once moving off of the bed - while he watches Harry do the same.  
  
They really should brush their teeth, but he _really_ can’t be arsed walking up the stairs, and Harry seems to agree as he crawls under the covers.  
  
“We’ll brush super thoroughly tomorrow.” He says, slipping an arm around Louis’ waist and pulling him close. Louis nods against him, moving his face till it aligns with Harry’s and gives him a soft, long kiss. He finishes it off with a small peck, lips sticking slightly together.  
  
“Love you.” He whispers, eyes staying closed on their own accord, refusing to open again.  
  
“Love you.” Harry replies, and Louis feels his lips when he talks, almost tickling against his, so he presses against them once more, a fond smile coming in the way of it being anything proper, but he honestly doesn’t mind.  
  
He doesn’t even remember falling asleep, one minute he’s feeling Harry’s breath warmly hit against his cheek, and the next it’s morning again.  
  
  
  
  


They all stay till the twenty-eight.  
  
They don’t really do much, staying inside and being lazy most of the time, or going out to the backyard and play with the girls.  
  
  
They do brave the grocery store, once, a big one a little further away.  
The whole lot of them go there, staying in a groups so that Louis is never left alone, and no one gets lost.  
  
Louis gets to push Millie’s pram, and Harry has a constant arm around his waist, the other holding Phoebe’s hand, while Daisy holds on to one of the bars on the pram, and it works; people leave them alone.  
  
Sure, they get looks, and there’s whispers, a few slurs thrown their way and no one’s particularly friendly - there’s even a group of teenagers that follow them for a while, probably to see if they can corner Louis alone - but with three children and a boyfriend surrounding him, no one takes it further.  
  
All in all - it’s the best shopping trip Louis’ been on, ever really, and they take their time, browsing the store properly and buying way more than they probably need.  
  
  
  
It’s when they’re driving back to Harry’s that it suddenly hits him.  
  
“You guys rung the doorbell when you arrived, right? On my birthday I mean.” he asks.  
  
“Um, yeah. We figured there was no way for us to sneak in without you hearing it, so your mum suggested it.” Harry looks questioningly at Louis, like he’s expecting a explanation of sorts, but Louis just shakes his head, squeezes Harry’s fingers gently.  
  
“Nothing.” He says, a smile curling on his lips.  
  
It’s just, no one else came to their door that day, no one came to try and ruin his day.  
Small victories, yeah?  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Zayn and Niall arrive on the thirtieth.  
  
They’d talked about maybe bringing more friends, have a bit of a party, but in the end - seeing as they’ll spend new years at Liam’s, and Millie’s gonna be there - they figured it was better not to.  
  
It’s still a step up from all of Louis’ previous New Years parties, which has mainly been at home with his family, drinking non-alcoholic ‘champagne’ out of fancy glasses with his sisters.  
  
They’re having real champagne this time, gonna share a bottle at twelve, the five of them, and maybe a few beers each before that.  
Liam’s not drinking, being the responsible father he is, and he doesn’t want either of them to get drunk, which Louis fully understands, seeing as Millie will be sleeping just a few feet away.  
  
He was a bit more anxious to see if Zayn and Niall was okay with such a laid back evening, but none of them seemed to mind.  
Zayn would probably have gone along with anything Liam wanted anyway, and Niall said he just wanted to spend the night with the rest of them.  
  
  
The two of them are staying over at Liam’s, _in his guestroom. both of us_. Zayn had firmly stated when Louis had obnoxiously oooh’ed at the information.  
  
They all spend the day together anyway, only separating around eleven pm, when they figure they should all head to bed to get a good nights sleep.  
  
  
  
  
Liam and Harry decided that they’re all gonna make dinner together.  
Louis thinks the most probable result is disaster.  
  
They’re doing a roast-thingy, with like, spices and herbs and onions and stuff, that’s cooking in the oven for ages. Louis is not very involved in that part.  
Added to that they’re gonna have creamed potatoes with cheese on top and mini Yorkshire puddings, as well as a fresh salad.  
  
Honestly, Louis would be happy with take away or frozen pizzas or something.  
  
Nevertheless, he’s not the one in charge, so when they arrive at Liam’s the next day, Louis holds his tongue as he’s given a knife and a cutting board and pushed towards the kitchen table and a small mountain of vegetables.  
  
He spends what feels like hours cutting chinese cabbage and tiny tomatoes and peppers and _grapes_ \- whatever they’re doing in there - occasionally joined by Zayn, who’s helping wherever help is needed.    
  
  
It’s not as dull as he expected though, they talk a lot, and when there’s a lull in conversation, the radio that plays in the background fills the silence.  
  
The roast has been cooking overnight, so the preparations for the dinner and dessert takes less than two hours - and that includes Niall’s ridiculous attempts at making origami napkins shaped as swans, ending with Zayn shooing him away and easily folding them into simple dress shirts.  
  
  
It’s totally worth it though, the meal is absolutely delicious and Louis takes full credit for the salad, which they all give him. It’s a testament to how well they know him, really.  
  
It’s nearly eight when they get to eating, Millie’s already sleeping, and they‘ve all changed into proper suits, looking dashing and adult.  
They spend so long sitting around the table, eating and talking, that they all kinda jump in their chairs when the first firework of the night goes off.  
  
To be fair, it’s not even eleven - for another two minutes, at least - but they all start cleaning up after themselves anyway.  
  
  
They go outside ten minutes to midnight, Liam bringing the babycall just in case.  
  
The sky is already lighting up with fireworks in every color, but they all know it’s not nearly as much as it’ll be after twelve.  
  
They don’t have any fireworks themselves, only some sparklers to wave around, but with the amount of people gathered up in their gardens, it’s probably gonna be more than enough to watch anyway.  
  
  
When it’s only a minute left, Liam hands out champagne glasses as Niall grabs the bottle.  
They’re not gonna pop it until it’s officially the new year, and Zayn sneakily gave Niall the task of doing so, which, Louis is pretty sure Zayn has other plans as the clock strikes twelve.  
  
Louis pulls out his phone, Harry cuddled into his side as they watch them time intensely, and they both scream ‘ _Happy New Year_ ’ as loud as they can the second it changes.  
  
He pulls Harry into a kiss, but keeps one eye open, watches as Liam and Zayn shuffles towards each other awkwardly, before Liam pulls him into a hug.  
Harry must notice how unresponsive Louis is, because he pulls back hesitantly, only to follow Louis’ gaze as Liam and Zayn pull out of their hug and into a kiss.  
  
  
“I feel left out.” Niall says, walking over and filling their glasses with champagne.  
  
“Thank you Niall.” Louis says, and smacks a wet kiss to his cheek. Niall glares at him, wipes off his cheek with the back of his hand in fake disgust, just as Harry repeats Louis’ words and action.  
  
  
The two other boys walks over shyly, both with red cheeks - that they’ll probably swear is only caused by the cold later - and holds out their glasses so that Niall can fill them.  
  
“Thought you weren’t having any?” Zayn asks, leaning closer into him as Liam puts an arm around his waist.  
  
“Just a sip or two, for the new year.” He says, and they look softly at each other for a moment too long, before Harry clears his throat - though Louis doubts Liam or Niall hears it, what with all the noise from the fireworks - and holds up his glass.  
  
“To the new year,” He says. “May the best of this year be the worst of next.”  
  
”Cheers!” They all chorus, clinging their glasses together.  
  
  
Louis not sure things even _can_ be better than they are right now, than they’ve been for the past few weeks.  
  
Harry startles him by pressing a kiss to his nose, the tip of it just a tad colder than Harry’s lips, and he tilts his head up a bit to get a proper kiss.  
  
”Any new year’s resolutions?” He asks him as they pull apart, tucking his head into Harry’s neck as they watch the fireworks.  
  
Zayn walks up to them and gives them a sparkler each, lighting them with the one he has for himself.  
  
”To make you as happy as possible.” Harry replies. Louis makes a sound in the back of his throat that he hopes the bangs of the fireworks swallow up.  
  
”Can’t make a resolution you’ve already fulfilled.” Harry leans back a bit to beam down at him.  
  
”To _keep_ making you as happy as possible, then.” He corrects, and Louis rolls his eyes, but kisses the corner of his mouth anyway. ”What’s yours?”  
  
“Don’t usually have any, I always break them.” He says with a small shrug.  
  
“Borrow mine then; make your resolution to be as happy as you can possibly be.” He says it with a tone of nonchalance and a small smile - like it’s just a random suggestion - but they both know that there’s more than that to it.  
  
“Seems a bit selfish, gonna have to make you happy as well.” Louis replies.  
  
“That wont be too difficult.” Harry says, and he’s trying to dampen down on the smile that‘s taking over his face - it’s so obvious with the way his dimples dents his cheeks and the way his eyes are positively glowing,  
  


Probably not, Louis thinks.  
With a little luck on his side, he might be able to keep them both.  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Sappyyyy ending i know..
> 
> Um, so like, this is the last part I think. At least for now anyway.  
> I really wanna write other things, so yeah, I'm gonna say the series is complete, but it's not entirely impossible that i continue it later.
> 
> Hope you like it though! Thank you for reading!!! (kudos and comments make me very happy *batts eyelashes*)


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